in language
tense is the time of action
not the time of death
if there were no past tense
could anyone ever truly
disappear
and how would we feel today
if we had no way to put into words
what happened yesterday
last month
last year
or when we were children
why can’t language consistently aspire
to keep us alive
imagine no simple past (he was)
and no past perfect (he had been)
only he is and he will be
in that world our hearts would not ache
the way they now ache, ached,
have ached, will ache, and will have ached
we are bound by finite forms
and conjugations that allow
for the lives of our loved ones
to come to an end
and that makes language useless to explain
the chest-crushing loneliness
and the need to put our rage
into question form
why didn’t he—
how come I—
when will this—
can’t you see that without the past
we would be invincible
love and sorrow can begin in an instant
and yet they take forever to go away
perhaps the only reason to stay alive
from this moment on
is because we are free
for when one has survived the darkest hours
and lost what we have lost
there is nothing left to fear
