The Breaths Between Us

i'm minutes away
from the collision site
     counting backward
     the breaths between us
     and the lost time
     between lives
tripping over
clock guts, sprung
  our hallway uncoils
  from the
     quantum grandfather's
     open doors
  his walnut lean
     almost unwound
     almost over

i'm seconds away
from the before
     and after
  of our near-miss
     counting sideways
     the beads of air
     between us
and the imperfections  of
  side-whispered murmurs
  in a rumored heart
        a stuttering mass
     almost unwound
     almost over

this broken belled
lost-time clock
  has lost hold
  of the lives we live
         between lives
its skullsong rings
the same vibration
  with or without words

either ether or neither
  i don't need forever
  to take
        all this want away
to drive diamonds
to the center of never
  and memories deep
  into the sleep
     of this candle's
     fiery wish

forever's dreams
don't collapse
     they lean
  on the broken
  springs of
     almost unwound
     almost over