Mortality

the one where the warmth of a mother's shrinking body is a sunset or a receding Mediterranean wave the child chases out of breath hah / come back / hah / I've / hah / barely / gasp / known / hah / you / wheeze / been / hah / away / so long / hah / I missed / hah / miss / hah / you / gasp / already

the street in burning yellow an ash where lightning hovered I learn to be mortality like cousin of the wind so close to the sound of a leaf I forget to be afraid I rub mortality into the walls this marking that asks pardon who slings blood in the eye maybe a stone dissolves what dies there a melody of dust I want to remember