The Covenant

Having stopped using dolphins to locate explosives in the Cold War

they had 30 leftover dolphins.

An officer noted that to move them to open waters would endanger them.

One dolphin taking part in all this smiles like a Boy Scout counting knives—

(how do they smell explosives under the sea)

(who had once taken souls to the beyond)

Before the second marriage i greeted middle age;

should i wear reading glasses at the wedding?

(& : how to keep up w/ the spirit world— whose figures

     seemed distant, cool—)

These bodies we’ll know only a few more decades

 have become a series of yeses; yes to capillaries & leg veins’ h’s,

    to x’s on hands bathed in aloe & sweet peppermint,

yes to face lines so western—

When the officer shows concern by squinting,

one especially tame dolphin puts its nose—what looks like a child’s knee—

    into the officer’s hand.