The loneliness of a sick bachelor

1.19.20

The smile that curls the
lips in against the wet of
the teeth

The responsibility of a mother
doubled by tragedy and
unhalved by the village

The empty tunnel dug out
by some rodent, abandoned
for some time and untouched
even by the warmth of a snake

The sound kicked up by an urban crowd
like the dust that would be too
if we had not paved the earth
and buried all that was hatefully
loose