This

This

This must be alzheimer’s
this letting of the blood
an old man committing memories to memory
like a fall maple clinging to half its leaves

This must be the post-op
this famine and pestilence
a beautiful woman slipping into a mastectomy bra
like a drywaller stuccoing a hole

This must be the death of god
this forgetting and metamorphosis
this return of caterpillar and coffin
this whittling of the soul