Touched

When she asked, I hesitated, thinking the answer would be mistaken for
flippancy,
for denigration,
for shallowness –
temptation almost delivered anodyne, then paused
slow …
being thought about.
“Nnnooo…. nothing I can think of.”

The face opposite is attentive, tongue unfamiliarly still.
For the past seven days
procedures and protocols explained had been dismissed with –
“THAT WILL CHANGE.”
Now the last afternoon
the last will and testament – did the departing one have any advice?
Eyes invite confidence
silence gathers and yields
exhaling a single sentence : absurd and true.

“ If I had talked more and worked less .. I’d have been more successful.”
The strangest bequest,
living about to be ghost –
dead men tell no tales, or lies.
Confession unexpected and brutal,
space ….. which words cannot enter, sternness is abandoned
a hand is placed on the defeated knee, lingering
the tone is soft,
loving
“it hasn’t been easy here for you has it.” Statement not question