Unraveling

By: Kyle Elden

I don’t remember when the first thread came loose
I didn’t notice as it hung like a secret
the words suspended but never spoken
a ripe fruit dangling from a tree branch

Unraveling usually begins this way, a silence
moves in like a thick slow rolling fog,
and suddenly you can no longer look into
your lovers eyes, even though
you are face to face

You feel yourself being pulled downward
the bathtub begins to empty
and elusively like water on a steady descent away
you find yourself somewhere unfamiliar, unknown

You realize something has ended and begin to wonder:
How it is the buds are beginning to appear
on trees, when all you can recall is dead branches
and dirt crusted snow heaps

How it is the lilacs are bursting open
forging into a new season marking this change
as if it were simple and sweet smelling