the sparrows
watch me watching them
chirping suspiciously
in golden light
they want words
which nourish
the lurking raptor
defiantly present
in ancient souls

i have no way
of explaining the discard
no understanding
of it myself
just the knowledge
there is no agony
quite like knowing
you were never enough
without knowing exactly
where i was lacking

so we watch one another
meaning lost in
eons of evolution
until neither of us
do more than cast shadows
of who we once were
seeking the answers
to rhetorical laments