Lessen the lively way

You say, forever. Forever

Is not what you think it is.

 

Burnished steel with oil

And old cotton shirts. Buttons

On fire when the world ends.

 

Is it a guidepost or clock,

An imperceptible second or

The sun’s arc across the sky.

 

More so fatal reasoning

And an equation only

Invented, not discovered.

 

Treacherous candle,

Shifting winds flap

Across my eyes

 

Until blackness spans

My memories and

Your memories of me.