how narrow we enter the world
passages of soft and hard
echoing bony ellipses
unspeakable traces
whose thin embraces
’round trembling flesh lie
how narrow we see the world
glimpses of light and shade
verges of matter and wave
flashes of shadow crust
revealing themselves in a play
of unceasing concealment
how narrow we leave the world
stone and crystal
filling one for one
the palaces of tissue
ossification running gracefully
slipping smoothly
overtaking the quivering
substances of life
how narrow we hold the world
shedding scraps and shells
the barren cracks and blasts
of our unfathomable thirst
for immolation
footprints
where once trembling flesh lay
how endless we hear the world