Light

Sieved from sky

Silence save the clock

False time

Gregorian or

Are you real?

Was it yesterday?

You told me and I believed

Using the last of my faith

Conserved for this

Waste

Blown down empty highways

Back to silence and strangers

Not my mother’s face

Someone I don’t recognize

How I wish it were her

With all my longing

Still

You cannot

Create worlds

From dust and indifference

It is cold

Without you

Telling me I matter

Validation

Shouldn’t

Be necessary

Yet oh it is

When you are alone

Listening to clocks

Tick down to menopause

The things undone

Lay without stitch

On cold tile

My cat is beneath earth

My car is sold

The seat still warm

Where I cradled your shining head

The smell of roses

Losing their petals

A crucifixion

Pull up your tights and

Leave the empty bedroom

The single pillow

Stark against

Inexplicable

I remember the taste of your mouth

The feel of your fingers

And I am hollow

A prayer lost

For disbelievers

I am

Made to say goodbye

To all I love

Even the hummingbird

No longer comes

Even your hairbrush

When the door closed

Even years later with roles reversed

No daughter to shun

No one

To blame

I wanted only something

Already leaving

Catch the last train

If you can

They never clean

The fog

From the windows