they loved across a great divide, 
and triumphed in their differences, 
as each employed these sparks of pride 
as testimonies, references 
for jobs they sought as human souls 
now meant for something higher. 

they loved into the final trench 
from which no car can be removed; 
through time and distance, still the wrench 
of inescapable, unmoved, 
and ever-pressing downward grief 
turned patterns into drops of blood 

that spatter out from open 


veins