Thus we meet sometimes
In deserts and ruins of thought
Where absences are also habit
And reconciliations deliberately incomplete
Are tidied in the day's chore
In daily pilgrimages on suburban trains
And evenings rounded by grocery lists
Over the noises of the walking streets
The angry revvings of gridlocked cars
In the fixed gaze of the television screen
And the whistling of the rice cooker
The tucking in of another bedsheet
Before the terror of sleep and dream
We forget each other without pause
Disallowing memory even in generous moments