Slip Fault

only here in this slip of time
where yesterday slips
against today
do I feel the relentless burning linger
where bliss
laid its hot wet kiss
on the frigid shoulder
of my deepest loneliness

it's only here
in this slip of time
where ordinary shrinks
in the shadow of extraordinary
that my life appears desolate

only in this gap
between what is
what was
and what might be
do I feel exposed
and naked
and small
as small as a human ant
in the cosmos of a billion unknowable
billions
a billion unknowable heartaches grinding
their way across a billion unknowable
ecstasies
a billion promises of love sliding against
the rough surface of my fears
and this fear, the greatest of all
of my single
solitary
and utter meaninglessness
without other
- without you

(March 2008)