softly as they leave us

by Melissa Bobe


“softly as they leave”                                                           you

beatbeat out
beatbeat out
beatbeatbeatbeatbeatbeat
in      in      in      __
Obscured, she //bound/, was somnambulant in her wooden bed. His approach, slow(sustained—) up [to the open grave.

And,
Will you join me in a pas de nocturne?
I will.

One grave, one shrouded, one treading, one box. A body//a body. Two. There are two. There are absolutely two in [this duet;                                                                             it is a duet.

But.

(Can you trace the places where the hands graze the sweat and breathing flesh? Can you find the shadow in the shadow in the empty and abandoned grave? Can you hear the tap and turn, sinew under suspended skin? If you can, you are surely watching someone else’s pas de deux.)