for A.Z.

What more to do than hold our breath
when the news trickled down our spines?
Tragedy chose you like a fist behind a back;
tragedy left us topfull with whys and how comes.

But certainties have a way of undressing themselves
in uncertain times, and like collective souls
we never needed words to know
that you would fight and strife.

And every day the you that was upended
and the you we knew before come closer.
Even now you are forward-looking and jovial;
to you rattled bones are a pretense.

And your grace fills our skies with oxygen,
your inviting smile, the resonant laughter
and your unending, reciprocated love
peel away our morning blankets and curl our smiles.