Insipid sun cannot not thaw
the rimed concrete drive
Sugar-grey pools of frozen time
steal our footing
I talk to her and start the car
manoeuvre past the gate
Then as a silent family,
she takes her last, slow drive
A fluid takes her pain,
In a slow rush, her tortured eye
lapses into a spherical glass gaze
the universe cracks
Mercury boils in our veins
we convulse with
guilt and grief
and stroke her lifeless fur
The unacceptable, thrust on the helpless
by the unwilling
How much an animal knows
how much we all feel
is carved so deep, the soul bleeds
Their absence is broken glass
their silence, a cry of pain
and we beg forgiveness
as if we could stop
the celestial march of causality
This hunger, this death
this icy crevasse
This posy, this photo,
this hand-written sob
this shaking hand
refuses to close any door
***