it departs
as it arrives;
it's an opening gambit,
sans the tedium
subsequent
to the knock-em-down,
drag-em-out grudge match
which follows it.
But it surely isn't
some boldly
unsinkable Titanic;
it's more like
a kayak
which cannot be tipped
because it's small enough
to fit between
the waves
of all our lives—scanty,
yet unflappably
demanding: it survives.
