Abeyance

As the candles yawned

My world grew darker

'Til barely a detail remained

Parchment and smoke

Through distant chimes

Moths carried by the breeze

Her finger to my lips

I am stilled in an instant

I sip, and am numbed

From here the path winds backwards

At first I see my entering

And then steps in reverse

Descent where I had climbed

To pass where I had fallen

Familiar, all is frayed

And yet I cannot abide

Beyond my eyelids, I have died

Days are merging quickly now

Into years that spiral from my chest

They pass but leave no mark

Familiar, all is skewed

And yet I cannot reflect

Beyond my eyelids, I have died

Yet I collapse into youth

Familiar, all is frayed

And yet I cannot abide

Beyond my eyelids, I have died

I swallow forgotten words

To gain what was lost

And lose what was gained

Until neither is real

Behind my head, her hands hold no weight

I have reached a beginning

But somehow I do not stop

I fall through the first moment

To find that there is more

As light cascades

Through the hole my body has torn

Already, it is closing