Skyscraping

Holding his cold hand
watching his
heavy shell of a body
drag breaths
wondering
what’s still
inside of him
what has already
floated up
and out.

and I’m alive to see it.

I think about how our lives don’t just overlap
with other people’s, but how
inside each person
we are

just overlap
with other people’s, but how
inside each person
we are
so many selves
all at once.

I can hardly feel
the difference between hope
and fear.

A mentor leads his students, sometimes indirectly, to the answer.
A mentor can be sneaky.