Dark Matter

I've lived my life as if I were my wife
packing for a trip—I'll need this and that
and I can't possibly do without that!


But now I'm about
what can be done without.
I just need a thin valise.


There's no place on earth
where I can't unpack in a flash
down to a final spark of consciousness.


No place where I can't enter
the joyless rapture
of almost remembering


I'll need this and I'll need that,
hoping to weigh less than silence,
lighter than light.