for C.M.

in a haze of light

at last diffused

with arms spread
to embrace the wordless

waiting

until the wait too
has ceased


 

the floorboards
or the light
or the cracks between

awash
earthworn

as pale as a memory

the smallest horizon

given shape
by the shapeless


 

three words too late

or perhaps a silence
clearer than any word

to say nothing
or not even that

but to unsay silence
unsay the breath

as the sky lingers
in an open palm