Incantation
--Nick Laird 

Because we time-travel into the future
at a blistering sixty minutes an hour,
I ask you to sit down and write me
one beautiful sentence I might carry
in my pocket on the journey when I go,
and in the window of the train unfold 

O you were the best of all my days. 

Never knowing if the thing is broken
or the door between us is still open,
you would like me to sit down and write
you one beautiful sentence you might
carry in your wallet when you leave,
and in the cab you take it out and read 

Permit me voyage, love, into your hands. 

Depending where one stands, each circle
back is a possible fall, a fail, a spiral,
and I would like you to take a few seconds
to write me out one beautiful sentence
to carry now across the night and ocean,
and held up at the gate I sit down and open 

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

 Note: Includes lines by Frank O'Hara, Hart Crane and Kurt Vonnegut.