I can’t tell you how I’ve come
into this quiet
undeserved, I’m sure
like the sweet gift
of absolution
water in a dry place
rain that reaches
the most hidden seed
resolving hard earth
into fecundity
so late
so unexpected
almost miraculous
like water from a rock
clean and still
as a cold lake
in the mountain’s lap
deep enough to hold
more than all the grief
I’ve kept so long
                        

Some separations come on
slow as fog
sifting in unnoticed
until the road dissolves
beneath your feet
like a broken promise
an uncertain smudge
a signature erased
nothing left clear enough
to trust

Or in some morning’s light
the world stares back
strange as a face
slipped out from under
a familiar mask
a sign
like crows rising
from a roadside kill
all the furniture is rearranged
in a sudden abruption
disjointing time
until it moves
slow as glass
a liquid paused
a momentary solid
a stone in my throat

And I get stuck
where your words fall short
a tangled lariat
holding nothing
that might catch
and pull me back
inside
                        

It is these accidental ends
we can't forgive
forgetting time
is always borrowed
in loans whose terms
are undisclosed
and never generous
enough

So we are caught again
and again
unprepared
no ark or levee raised
against the storm
no oil for our lamps
stunned by how sudden
all accounts come due
how empty our hands
how wordless we stand
unready
our houses made of straw
our gardens planted
on the lip of the caldera