The Fifth Silence

DITHΣRMΩΩΠ The house learns new echoes Five heartbeats, now reduced The water bowl stays full The silence is the proof You count the paws on hardwood You count them still at night The collar holds the radius Of a circle out of sight You built the walls for five souls Gave the mortar, gave the stone Now the ceiling breathes for four And the breathing breathes alone The leash hangs by the doorway It doesn't ask for walks You learn the weight of empty In the spaces that it locks The fifth silence Is the loudest one The fifth silence Has already gone You carried the current For five, then four, then three The fifth silence Is the one before the war The photograph develops backwards five figures every time you look The chemicals are lying Or the album mistook You set the table for six You clear the table for one The chairs remember sitting That cannot be undone Fifty weeks, or fifty minutes The silver in the drain You wash what used to follow But the following remains It doesn't wait It doesn't want It only stays In the corners that you haunt The garden grows in numbers You count the paws you sowed The soil keeps the rhythm That your hands no longer know You learned the art of filling Now the art is all you are A frame without a picture A reservoir The fifth silence Is the loudest one The fifth silence Has already gone You carried the current For five, then four, then three, one The fifth silence Is the one before the... ...before the fall ...before the fall