We work we live we laugh we forget the
world, the one we run jump eat sleep breath
survive in, systemic suffering lying just
outside our notice our tick tick tick measure
of what is now and what is not

We work we live we laugh we push our
brothers fathers mothers children to the brink
of the edge/the line/the place that says that
what is there and what is here…is all about
forgetting…

We work we live we laugh while bedrooms
burn while old people get older get sicker
get longer away farther toward an end we
fear we see and our lives sit unchanged
unabridged and free to expand

We work we live we laugh while our parents
descend toward an end running running
away from us…while what we need is to
learn have to learn that this moment this time; 
a simple arc of revolution around the sun…

We work we live we laugh we need to have to
want to say I love you when I love you is what
we mean feel/is in our soul/in our eyes/in our
voices as we live (try to live) with memories and
other lives mentioned remembered replayed

We work we live we laugh because we try try
try to forget the pain the joy the soaring happiness
the plummeting fear…the all…that we were
when we were with them when now is the instant
that we can never be there again.