first time guests always
gently knuckle the door
stiff-fingered handshakes
two-worded politeness
silent as cubed ice
cheese and crackers
help crack some laughter
grape wine group jokes
voices sliced and spun louder
ping ponged between players
dinner ushers all inside
hearty stories bounce off walls
among steam-showers of food
candles drip sway
with the conversations
warm blueberry pie
with vanilla ice cream
the lips that prey
on sugared confection
now too occupied to speak
as quietness settles
like the end of most evenings
we hug as silently
as they arrived
and they leave
fuller shadows of themselves