Shards of paper
Shreds of glass
Seeing through a window
Clouded by the past
Weightiness of pages
Crusty residue of thoughts
Expanse of brave, clear future
Encroached by emptiness
Trying to distill the uncatchable,
The irretrievable,
Trying to ignore the ever-present;
Paradoxes of crowded loneliness
And frantic apathy,
"Heavy lightness
And serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms";
Too tired to be young
Too careless to be old
Wet cloth, rubbish bin, and broom
Cleaning up and clearing out
But making no more room