Only six hours stretch
between us.
The air wrapped in night
slowly turns into dawn.
Time flows through our veins,
for one of us quickly,
for the other more slowly.
Soon I will say good night,
and you will wish me a good day.
The distance in time and space
makes me think
of those who came and went
with the ticking of a clock.
A few words
could have been comfort,
but they left silence instead.
And we write that ending
in our minds,
as if closure could bring us peace.
Does a loss repeated
hurt any less?
We are still lucky.
We can say
good morning at night,
and words carry us
through another circle traced
by the hands of time
until the next meeting.
I wish I could be sure
that the same will happen
when there are no lips left
to speak those words.
Fragility suspended
on slender stems
in the shimmer
of passing lives.
May all the touched moments
fall now
upon this blue planet
and hold us all
in gentleness.
Yes, we are bodies
longing for a mother's open arms,
a father's voice,
a friend's handshake,
a lover's tender gaze