sitting at this rickety table
in the frosty half-light
surrounded by flaking walls
and absent friends
i wait patiently

my mind littered with ghostly remains
while vague blurs of bleached memories
scratch at the boarded windows

this is no room for cosmic pretensions

soon the river will slop its banks
flood this room with freezing waves
and I will join the ranks
of those who used to be

time and tide
savaging the flock
dismantling our lives
one death at a time