How will
It end?

Like a fly
To a lightbulb

Or a hand
To a burner

Persist
Or learn?

As you stay in the past
It grows,
But you don't.

Forget remembering.

A man sat in his study
Pulling lines and textures
Across canvas hearts
And clay faces.

Each detail complicated
the puzzle behind his eyes
Which he could only finish
With the piece he couldn't find.

And now the man is gone,
But the cage he once tended
Is filled with countless tenants
Each beautifully unfinished.

If it's there
Under
That hat,
Give it to me.

So I might
run with it
Somewhere
Better than here.

And bury
It among
The important
Little details.

Been planting
Three
For each
I take,
And now
I have
more trees
Than space.

Scrubbing pans,
Shelving plates,
Furiously throwing
Myself into the day
To get through it.

Everything's clean,
And I'm sweating
But nobody can tell,
I'm supposed to be wet.

Maybe I'll save up,
And I'll get out,
Or I'll give up,
I'll drop out
Of this thing
Back to nothing.

But nothing puts
A chill in me
Because I'm afraid
Nothing could be worse.

So here I'll stay
Until nothing
Comes to me.