You Becoming Silhouette Poem by GORDON GILHULY

and you are not there

it is both strange

and familiar a small thing really

new toothpaste in the mouth

the texture, the taste, the smell of it

new and old



we see now that leaving

is just another death

begun at the instant

of conception and inevitable

in its dark conclusion



this is the inverse of the sacred

the soul, out there, flails

about in the desperate search

for self as defined by other

the next other always greener



the moon is in eclipse tonight

a shining blazing shadow

has eaten you darkness

has a new definition



I will beat drums make

blood sacrifices to drive away

your death to change the rules

to discover alchemy



down in the meadow silence

is the new reality is black

also the absence of sound?

the hole left by your voice

leaving



I had expected the whoosh of

an owl dropping expected to utter

some feeble cry of resignation but

there is only August descending

into December and

you becoming silhouette