Dusk
Is it not strange
That you who shared my laughter but a week ago
Should now be dust?
And all that I loved in you
Should hang upon the rhythm of your blood
Abruptly stilled?
Your final farewell: a fleeting breath
Floating quietly away.
Your spirit trod this haze to the stars.
Your strong body, now a fistful of ash
As stark as shell grit,
Is strewn on the bald land.
Rabbits frisking in the lonely gloam
Scatter it,
And you are swallowed by silence.
The cinders of happiness drift down.
I was a small bird in your leafy realm.
You scooped up my heart
And held it softly in your cupped hands.
Your love was imprinted on my bones.
Suddenly you were felled:
My living nest, my soul’s reflection -
And, like a pebble flung in the sea,
The arc of your fall has hurtled me
Out of the sunlight.
