A house
is not the same thing
as a home,
and a monument—
however
well trafficked,
however extravagant—
never can take the place
of a headstone.
For similar reasons
(though our breaths
would run cold
if we tried
to express them),
the right poem
for this moment
must not be
an actual thing,
because once things are real,
they are no longer
possible.
