Future Tense

All things in the end are bittersweet—

An empty gaze, a little way-station just beyond silence.

If you can’t delight in the everyday,

                                                         you have no future here.

And if you can, no future either.

And time, black dog, will sniff you out,

                                                            and lick your lean cheeks,

And lie down beside you—warm, real close—and will not move.