And What Have You Ended Up Clutching?

Less than nothing and deeper,

Linda Gregg once wrote of dense

Pleasures rich with happiness

In a romantic setting

With a familiar lover.

She wrote it as one sentence.

She wrote it in conclusion.

Less than nothing and deeper.

On a wintry, rainy dawn,

You ruminated on this,

How less than nothing still felt

Paradoxical, long since

You learned negative numbers,

How thing is less than no thing.

Less than nothing and deeper.

It felt like a useful way

To sum up everything as

Nothing much, although deeper

Proved trickier to picture.

The rain beat pizzicato.

The day stayed gray. Can bliss be

Less than nothing and deeper,

In its transitory way,

Or was she reaching after

Abstract paradox to get

At what was impossible

To convey about happiness,

To end up clutching nonsense?