Like the way a sunbeam skips across a flitting fish's scales,
a browning maple leaf slips into the gutter during a storm.

The way butter yields and melts onto freshly warmed toast,
a pencil fights for movement as a sleepy hand drifts off.

The way greasy wrappers fall from an overflowing trashcan,
a cat's eyes blink slowly to tell you they love you.

The way a foot slams the gas to pass a changing yellow light,
a lost shoe clings to the sidewalk, waiting for its partner.

It is fleeting, immaterial, the way death shows itself to you-
skipping, slipping, melting, fighting, falling, blinking, slamming, clinging-
Oh! how it hurts so dearly to find
that every ounce of living
hints to your little life dying/ snuffing out.