we pass away

 

when the past and the future

tug upon the present moment

with delicate, unrelenting arms

 

when ambition

overreaches talent

 

when dull-dark sunshine penetrates

closed eyelids

 

when the heart disregards

the mind

 

when all alone, in serene horror,

you contemplate what it will be like

to drift into oblivion

 

when the imaginary friend

appears before the child

 

when a sudden clap of thunder

echoes across the meadow

of intuition

 

when the banister

in an empty stairwell

creaks at 4:00 at night

 

when the glint of an erupting star

spreads over eons

like a faint, frozen scream

 

when blue-purple twilight

settles upon the garden

 

when the jaguar’s cuspids

wrench open the elephant’s cranium

 

when dew droplets gather upon the anthers

of a cherry blossom

 

when the Earth turns so slowly upon its axis

only electrons can feel its drag

 

when a summer’s night

sitting by the water’s edge

can stretch into forever…