just underneath
the clamor
of the Earth
as she's heaving
her second-
to-last breath;
just in-between
our having come this far
reluctantly
and the chaotic way
we are cleft
as we leave—
an absence
interposes;
a silence
that speaks.
There are moments, it says,
when we can't act
as we must;
there are endings
far more everlasting
than heaven—
yet less abrupt
than death.
