Solving for Naught

time puts on its mask. a ladder outside our window. soiled with strange footprints.  a monster in our closet. its curious skin too loud to understand.

words not nearly enough. as we lay down in the empty spaces between us. desperate for answers that it never had to give. 

griefs synthesizes its toxins. an economy of shame that fortifies our understanding. 

distance sheds its skin. its brittle bones still listening for where to go next. an ambivalent rabbit waiting to be plucked from life's tattered hat.

the loss swallows us. like some unrelenting cure. for a sickness we never knew was ours.

the famine lingers. a barren feast. gluttonous with dubious choices.

the door closes behind us. as if we've always been counting. how many key we've misplaced. for all the locks between us.