A Memory of Breath
Hallucinations billow in from some other place
Antiseptic solutions push back
An opiate smear of memories and desire
A feast of misery in honour of life
A slow leaving
Eyes fade into the opaque
Tenuous sinews cling to a memory of breath
Gasping and gone
The cold dark of stars gives over to morning pale
The past falls out from the lens of the moment
Lingering
Blown like smoke and cast like iron
And doomed to rust
Flakes of memory slake off and glitter
Some brief and some bright
I had forgotten for a moment that you were gone
But not that you were here
A sun drenched afternoon on the porch in the shade and the heat
With dogs panting
The long scratch of cicada and tall weeds of August
Great crates of time stacked all around
Condensate gathers by the cold beer and the echoes continue to fade