Whatever It Is, It Won’t Happen Again

A new recording of John Dowland’s
“In Darkness Let Me Dwell” passes by,
And the playlist shuffles somewhere else.

You’re about to shuffle off yourself—
Not very far, not very far yet,
But with permanence not far behind.

So you wait in the school’s parking lot,
Considering the trivial nearby,
Impermanent darkness, and with it

The permanent no that isn’t dark,
Permanently gone beyond any dark.