TINY DIAMONDS

Things I cannot unremember

The blood drops on the tiled hallway

Your eyes begging me to speak for you

Your beautiful feet, kicking out from a pile of blankets in a hot flash

Dreaming of your favorite high heels

A love circle of voices

As you tossed to Roxanne

The dancing bears

Calling you back to the circus

“Are we still in America?” you asked me

And I answered “for now”

The rise and fall of each breath

As I measured the silence for answers

Holding your hand

In sacred stillness

That precious, pain-free diamond you didn’t want to shatter

The chaos of it smashing

Leaving a thousand shards of tiny light

For years to come

A shard for each of us