FOR A FRACTION OF TIME
In memory: for Joseph Brodsky
South Hadley, spring 1990
For a fraction of time in time
I stopped breathing
My hand touched your face
which in the dim light seemed desolate
devoid of all its godliness
and I knew
that we
still intertwined
would separate
I followed you through the black night
holding your seeds in my closed fists
And when we reached daylight
I opened my hands
There in my shiny palms
between all we had lost
was the reflection of your face
and I wept
@Ilse Schreiber-Noll