For Jalen

Kneeling silent barren he falls into

The street. Bathed in tears barely legible,

While face, plane and sky circumvent those who

Wade through clouds on our brow; dust, unable,

Blind, blinking, seeping in and out of sight,

Brandished back by all fickle rolling sweat.

Halt once: first drop falls: fatigable height:

Promises filled, Paradise Not Lost; yet

On earth as not heaven, two per second

Reach ever above this condensating ground,

Where longer lives water-salt in a pawned

Off eternal pond where voices cannot sound.

Water breeding life bleeding like water;

Where only tears ever remember her.