the staying of dismissal: 
he remains. 
but still she is unsure, 
and thinks that, perhaps, she granted 
clemency where there was no 
sincere remorse (maybe?)  

there is no process 
so impossible to untangle 
as that of 
strangering: 
how it is people we know 
become people 
we never knew. 

= = = 

she stares, now, at 
a piece of paper: 
on it, test results that say 
he won't be here 
much longer. 

and where it the doubt, now?
who is it she
has become a stranger to?