Grey Explodes
The hum, The constant quiet whining Of efficient strip lighting, Hands unsteady, Cracked in driest air, The longest empty pauses Till the grey explodes And steals your everything within the sudden chaos, The evenings when you know The floor has dropped away, Although you cannot feel your fall. You only know you now have nothing Deep within your chest. You're moved outside the room To hospital hallways Smelling antiseptic Just like every hospital hallway. After the doctor tells you You pray as if it might Unsettle scales to balance, Knowing she will never make it. You see the morning Long ago, The fresh croissants and juice and coffee, Hazy sunlight barely bright enough For you and her on rumpled sheets To read voluptuous chunks of Shakespeare, Lyrics of a hungry love, And staring lost into her face, She everything, And this the world you want to live in, World you had eleven years You believed the dark collectors Wrenching her away Had taken what it would To cover your presumptions...