You can hear the breath,

In the cold journey nightly

Down the memories of before death,

Reminding you how silent life is,

How important sounds are hid

From a heart with nothing to miss

And only a false vision of bliss ahead.

S-h-h-h, breathe softly now and you’ll

Hear sounds you heard once before,

While the path you walked narrowed until

Only room for one was needed, leading to a door

That opens to absent greetings,

Silent questions of where you were,

Inaudible shouts of joy of your giving

Rewarded only by kisses of silence to endure.

S-h-h-h, if patient you may even catch

The rustling sound of the sheets

Pulled for warmth with a cold breath’s touch,

And within the settling breath, between heart beats

Long lost to a day of bitter cold,

The rumble and rattle of the future today,

When the path, now narrowly old,

Began to shrink to your heart and the sounds went away….