she puts her arms
all the way
around me
shaking from the sobbing
we stand there
in the silent hallway

whispering into my chest,
haltingly,
“how can I fix you?”
um….
“how can I bring you back?”
even then she knew something was gone
“how…..”

(can anyone have ever cried so hard
about something no one knows anything ABOUT?)

whispering into the top of her head,
“I can’t tell from in here”
tapping my chest
tapping my head
“I’ll need to rely on you”
tapping her head
tapping her chest
“and any others you care to bring on”

— GLB