When the class is over
and the students are gone,
and silence attends the room,
I think about what was said
and what was left undone.

These torch carriers and
pall bearers to the grave that
left the room into the night,
might hold my words or
maybe not, but they will be
thrown into a future place
that causes me to wonder,
strikes the softness of my fear.

There was beauty there in
their eyes matched with
smiles flowing into the dark,
as they departed after class,
and I sat and held the silence
and felt the sorrow of that
which is close and still to come.

 

11/8/2026