A whisper through the thunder broke
and carried her away in his arms - 
not mine.

I shut my eyes to call her name,
to retrieve what had never been,
with every ounce of oppressive hope.

The floor, pulsing with despair
crawled around and beneath me
like a pit of snakes -
one having stung my soul,
the rest waiting.

Passion, promises of paradise,
a poetic life
were impotent to silence
the inaudible whisper,
the secret incantation
that still echoes
in my sweaty, screaming, savage dreams.

What I may have heard in that chaotic dance of noise
while her footsteps faded rhythmically away,
was a whispered goodbye thrown thoughtlessly
into the night
not even in my direction.