Impermanence

Why does my face
fall away?

the limestone face
falls into churning water

mews of wild gulls
tear the sky into slivers
till it shimmers and shivers
and falls away

there is light behind the sky

there is nothing to hold
and nothing to hold me

these hands
and the hands they have held
loosen their grip

you must grow less

when you leave, remember
like a kiss at bedtime
how the days and the months and the years
drop away

how they rise and fall
like a pulse or a breath

the space in the center
has come to befriend me

all things have the nature of leaving

all is
ebbing away