Still life
There is a button missing, the thread
unwinds across a gut too heavy for
its frame.
He sits in grey-light, very still,
and half lid eyes urge on
the fading day.
He grew old slowly; shadows seeped
through tired rooms,
fabric frayed, the edges
first diminished.
Upon the mantle, photographs,
like mourners at a wake.
In one a couple sits, a crowded
rooftop scene; they have the
corner seat.
Across the city, blue lights and neon glow
and traffic flare like fire burning low.