Non-Linear Expressions

 the end approached slowly. both a beggar and a thief.

she counted out loud. chasing every decimal. as division lit its fuses.

change grinned as it untangled its chains. flaunting its empty cages.

he said there was time. that it was stalwart. even as everything else collapsed.

the end held its breath. as the truth slithered under her skin.

selling the tilted fractions of ravenous strangers. a curious commodity of lingering debts.

a caution of cracked buoys. adrift in the shallows of a deeper ocean.

time cinched its remaining threads. an efficient assassin. undeterred by slippery tongues.

through it all. she continued to keep count.

long after the math had given up.