The Cancellation

Men less sensitive have struggled with this:

the breach in which our lives are tailored

for disappointment: the long wait in queues

as the drama is sold out. We ponder

our calendars and are troubled. We will

stand in countless scenes at piers and platforms

paying homage to the receding face,

the small receding face. Days after, walking

to the market or mornings in the gray office

we will rethink our multiple replies.

We will rehearse a more sufficient speech

for strangers, for friends become strangers.