arpeggio, by Will's open grave

Cousin Will

arpeggio, by Will’s open grave
With love for his mother, his father, his sister, his brother

under gray clouds, the winds rouse and threaten
to make good on the promise of rain the ritual
shovel trades hands from one to the next
and the shoveled pebbles pelt the lid
of Will’s sunken pine box
each pocking an echo of
certain determination
to move away from
this from this in
no certain
direction
from

this

we are small
only our dreams are big
we dream to follow what already
has followed us forever we reach to touch
that which again again and again what forever
moves away to a place just beyond our grasping

we are small easily we bend
under the burden of our dreams
we linger and only too soon we remember
that at the precise hour we desire it most meaning voids meaning

move away they say we are small
and diminished by dreams
slowly we move we are
small move away
they say

we are small and slowly only late do we remember that
a given name is sufficient cause for a taken name
that perhaps they’re right that doing our best
may yet turn out to be just enough

to not yield
to forgive even ourselves
to survive even this
unhealed

M. Salomon, 12 September 2010

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