You always spoke with window-lighting grace
Letting pauses carry half the song
In your hush the kettle learned to sing
Tea and evening never waited long
Every gentle gap between your words
Sheltered flocks of unannounced concerns
Later days began to speak too loud
Traffic roared into the tender room
Schedules sliced the fabric of our hours
Every joy wore shoes of hurried gloom
I forgot to hear that silent tone
Rising from the way your shoulders shone
Tonight I switch the weary engine off
Let the city blur beyond the glass
Only clocks and far-off sirens move
Like restless currents under frozen grass
In the stillness just before I sleep
Your unspoken comfort starts to sweep
Through the dark your silence touches mine
Teaching breath to rest not run ahead
In that quiet gulf I understand
All the phrases you refused to shed
Absent now you speak with greater art:
You rearrange the furniture of my heart