(a poem composed in the final year of grad school, 2017)
Holding farewells in a sieve, drain on that final day
Stressful farewells written that eve, drain on that final day
A pregnant year to record the last words to say
A snapshot of each day has a puzzle piece fit
A letter written each day transliterates a puzzle piece fit
The lecture delivered in an auditorium dimly lit
Melodies over months swoon in perpetual dwell
Melodies hover as moonlight in a Beethoven sonata dwell
An infant invocation crying out in an instrumental yell
We embrace one another, conjoined twins, only to depart
We embrace one another, in the classroom’s womb, only to depart
Our knitted lives undone, thread by thread at the heart
Storge musings, nourishing, in the final weeks of a third trimester
Agape fusing’s, unconditional, in the final weeks of a third trimester
Final words, harvested, the fall in their spring semester.
r. ward 