Shift
That is the word to describe it
The way the moon so graciously exits
Allowing the sun to shine a light much more potent
The stabs of jealousy rounding off over the years
From blade to butter knife
Shift
That is the way to pronounce it
How the baby you once held
Holds you
How the baby you once fed
Feeds you
As she excitedly prepares her house for you
Hoping you will accept it as your own
While she awaits your return from the medical facilities
You were once her and now she is you
Over and over again
Shift
As they move
Watch them move
So busy with themselves
The things they make up to do
As the time shifts all around them
From very basic to…to…
Acidic
Shift
How I would articulate
The depletion of innocence
And the small children
Standing by the swings, begging to go home
The jingle to the video game
Is the theme music in their empty little heads
Shift
The force we cannot stop
As time unravels
And the wind seduces the hem of our skirts
Exposing all of our secrets
Morphing into a cyclone
Writhing like a snake in the distance
Impending doom descending upon us
As the sun and the moon finally drop into the sea
Drowned by the secret bitterness between them
Flower carcasses in a dried up field
Bees lying still peacefully beside them
Their legs twitching
Humanity being wiped out in an instant
As you peer through the kitchen window
Your baby in the sink as you wash him
You, however, are oblivious
For you only see the rain speckles on the glass
That your husband promised he would clean
And you wonder what the word is you keep thinking of
Shift