TRESPASSING INTO EMPTY SPACE

  

She had made up her mind, 

to be alone, 

 

 to cut herself off 

 

from all perfunctory contacts. 

 

He, too, was widdershins, 

 

unwinding the sensations 

 

of disintegration and anti-life.

 

Neither of them could stand

 

each other,

 

 let alone the thought -  the treason

 

of growing old

 

together.

 

 

 

She was crabby

 

and he was ornery.

 

He was stooped 

 

and she was brittle

 

clasping at each other

 

with rants and rasps

 

no longer willing or able

 

to copulate

 

to pull off their masks

 

and expose 

 

their fragile disgust for

 

each other.

 

 

 

But to honor

 

that inner contempt

 

and acknowledge

 

that Time had had

 

his way

 

with one

 

and the other,

 

a little more  

 

with one

 

than the other,

 

and yet it evened out -

 

one way or the other.

 

 

 

They were old.

 

They knew 

 

their Time

 

had past

 

and that this

 

 was now the remains.

 

The covert

 

denial of 

 

infinite sadness

 

at this empty space

 

of saying

 

“goodbye”

BjR  2 Sept. '09