Awake and waiting
In this room together
We are making music with the sound of our breathing
Keeping time with lingering and letting go
We are exchanging poems written with our eyes
Needing words no longer
We are dancing when we are holding hands
Clasping and unclasping on this final round
Awake and waiting
In this room together
Now a caress stirs no movement
Now a kiss goes unreturned
We stumble at the chasm’s edge
Vertigo of knowing and not knowing
Listening for breath song
Closing the couplet of eyes
Releasing the hand’s embrace
Our balance precarious
We find our footing in loving
Face sorrow with attention to the last of living
Making ceremony of wakeful waiting
Before we turn
As we must turn finally
And fall
All the improbable way to sleep
Rae Crossman
Published in EVENT