A Sense of Time

the end arrives both eager and reluctant. a fistful of gravity between this life and the next. the bridges devour the sky. the distance comes and goes. shallow footprints in time's moist cement.

i told her that she didn't know. she never would. a callous truth that irreversibly divided us.

the road bit down hard. tried to swallow us, but choked instead.

i told her that it was over. had never begun. a choice that left us both brutally alone.

the tense came into play like so much skin. the thinnest paper. the narrowest of edges. the past collecting its beautiful orphans and fits of sober.

i told her that i didn't know. that i'd never even tried to.

gravity came in violent waves. a relentless downhill. devouring any remnants of how close we'd been.

the grief overtook. spending us like broken glass. in small stumbles and lingering bruises. eventually we surrendered to the force of the paradox and became the most intimate of strangers.