Panic due to unfamiliar birdsong
Time is running out
May never know the species
Or learned and forgotten
Among neurofibrillary tangles
A plaque in the birdsong storage site
Synapses devoted to well tempered Bach
Knowing every note
Memorizing came easy
When sleep was less vital
Now fugues slip away sulking
Downcast by my lack of devotion
That child skip-running toward me
Might have been real
Or time lapsed me
Message! Message from the past!
Do you not recall
That this is why we run?
Frantic at the bookstore
Northtown which is
North Star in my night sky
Outside of a dog
Too dark inside and
Cannot read fast enough before I die
When he snores a light touch
Prompts position change without waking
Then deep silence
So must I reach out
Verifying breath
Palm to ribs slowly expanding
All of which is
To say holding tighter
Holding tighter to say
Each breath is
One closer to a last exhale or inhale
Oxygen bound to no destination
