He firmly gripped his hands
as if
he might catch the words used
to describe what happened to his wife.
Wringing them over and over
as if
that might help him understand reality.
Poised in front of the doctors and nurses,
his eyes, like those of a gazelle
just before an ambush,
quickly moved from one to the next;
looking for certainty;
looking for answers;
looking for hope.
Bereft of his deepest desires,
his body collapsed within and he sank
into himself.
His whole life, his whole world
lay there.
He hovered over her
as if
trying to breathe life into her lifeless body.
“Just one more hug, one more embrace,
one more kiss,” he thought,
“That would make it alright again.”
Any distinction between the two was lost,
as each hand gently framed her face.
Intently,
temple to temple,
his eyelids shut
with conviction
as if
to say,
Come back.
