Loss

A window pane can separate

The seen from that we can touch

But it leaves the airy space open

To that which we can feel

As if you were last there

Near the corner turn, and away

From my sight you go,  and I

Must imagine you, and all I know of you

Is in memory.

It is this way today

The bright sky perceived in a patina, gone gray

The way a bright gull becomes dull, mottled brown

As it floats to ground and sheds the sun

So another breath gone still, nothing in this space

Nothing in that tomorrow…

I close eyes and see a boat passing by

The water swelled in its bow and quieting in its wake

Until still, and moving only

Because of the wind or the unseen tug of the world

And I think the boat has gone, until

The water swirls again; reminding me of

the ceaseless ways of a journey.