unquantifiable

loss quivers in the rib cage
the in-breath
throat catch
staccato rattle
in the lung

the tattoo
of all lives
ever

all things contain the seeds
of their own destruction
the clever ones say
for this world is paradox

we stumble forward
faces twisted backward
peevish at all that time
all the time of others
stolen from us

while we rush
to the end line
of our unknown
time
unquantifiable