Cup Bearers

The wary understand this,
trust is not a liquor
poured of largess,
upon those closest,
but scattered all about our lives
like drops of perspiration, anointing
steep staircases, misapprehended bends
in the road, a bad habit kept up
too long, a note struck so many times
it is unimaginable that such
dissonance could be our
parting song.