“turning clean”
endless turns mark hours,
hand, quietly moving
through whatever pain waits,
its cold, watching
set against heart, already
bruised by wringing
keeps its own pace,
a kind of steady proving
day carries pitch
a cry held low,
quiet running through
a stretch of dark,
on road longer walking
twilight thinning into soft fading
the weight settling,
the breath tightening
smiles try to hold daylight,
brief staying
grief rising again,
its circle returning
affection gone thin,
ghosts drifting, mourning
wish for what's remaining
still reaching
inside this drift,
this looping, turning
we look for a small lift,
a breeze easing
the chest for a moment,
enough of a clearing
to keep going, to find
a corner worth keeping
.