there is a space

between us –

someone has placed a wedge there

driving it deeper

widening the gap

with slow and deliberate blows

:o:

and as we grow further apart

inch by inch by slow-creeping inch

I hear the

chink

chink

chink

of hammer on chisel on pale cold stone –

:o:

someone is shaping a plug

to fit thick and snug between us

:o:

perhaps it is the dust

drifting down from that high windy place

where the mason's hands are at work –

lying heavy against my eyes

is that why I cry ?

:o:

or perhaps

my tears fall

because I know

that the mighty stone-shaper –

the bringer of this silence and this solemnity

is you ;

:o:

and the gap you seek to plug

is the cavity where my heart was

before you stole it away.