Travelers

The candles flicker over chocolate cake
dabs and dribbles of waxy pink on brown—
she blows and wonders where the wishes go
on winter nights, imagines they’re carried
on grey goose wings,

south to Caribbean blue,
then over northern ice to green moors, hills, dales
through gates that open with sudden longing—

they’re weighed like hearts,

collected in basket or bag—
one for each soul. Traveling through time,
sealed in an envelope for eternity,
Some marked “open at your own risk,”
others “sealed with a kiss.”