there is a before, regardless

of whether there is an after. there is a before & there is 
now & there is what will come next 
which is not yet known. 

there is the action & there is the thought that leads 
to the action. your legs & the 
distance they carry you. 

the pain that follows & eventually 
recedes. 

the bridge & the water 
beneath. 

the river’s edge & the 
receding bank. 

endless rush & eventual 
end. 

there was the endless summer, days crawling 
into being & stretching out over the horizon. 

night came & went in a blink, followed 
by the growth of another day. 

summer threatened to break overhead, 
each promise of growth offered 
& rescinded. 

eyes wept into the river & clouds split 
into a chorus 
of crying. 

thousands of miles away 
a heat storm swept the desert. 

the unlivable landscape reclaimed itself. 

here, water was everywhere. 

legs strained to carry you. 
body cried out 
for rest 

& was denied. 

muscle seized, a concrete fist 
in place of flesh. 

the river offered its cool release 
& the body relented. 

cicadas pulled themselves from earth, 
cried their need into still air. 

heat pulled tears from flesh, salt
water trickled down the body. 

thousands of miles away 
the ocean cried for your return. 

stone weathered without you to block it. 

here, the sky dried its face. 

legs carried you away from water
into endless nothing
asphalt offered. 

grass long & uncared for. 
forests thinning by the day. 

postings for land & 
money to claim it. 

empty brick & weathered face. 

you called to attention endless 
greed. 

land wasted for lack of profit. 
air heavy with heat & gasoline. 

hundreds of miles away 
the great lake called to you. 

the line of water & sky 
waiting for you 
to blink them into one. 

here, summer relented. 

brought to its knees by coming chill. 

cicadas quieted. 
sky calmed. 

water continued 
as it wanted. 

there was a before. 

we are waiting still for the after to arrive.