Fourteen months and four days—

You breathed in my arms

One last breath.

I kissed you,

Closed your eyes,

Let you descend and ascend.

Kissed you again–

Your forehead cold

Against my lips.

 

Fourteen months and four days—

I kissed your lips

The day we buried you—

Carried your coffin

Into the church

And out again—

From the hearse

To the grave—

I kissed your coffin—

 

Fourteen months, four days—

Fourteen minutes, four seconds—

Fourteen years, four months—

The time spins out like straw

Becoming lead—

The gold is gone—

No alchemy reclaims it—

Fourteen months and four days—

Shut up in darkness—

Shut up in tears—

Shut up in silence.

 

Fourteen months and four days—

We are the dead—

We are the living—

We are the stuff of stars—

We are the stuff of God—

So we will dance again—

And sing again—

And love again…

For when the darkness rises

The light will descend to meet it.

 

All my love, always and all ways,

Harry