To hide in a hollow,
holler, or rabbit hole

To fear
the widening horizon

To admit to being
a little bit mad without shame

To believe in the inverted
negative view more

To speak slowly
with an ice-blue-eyed stare

To crave the texture of a black pebble
wall to lean against

and a nubbed rouge rug
beneath bare feet

To open a book
without pictures or conversations

To love the promise
and terror of the blank page

To be too early to everything
and too late to fix it

To go on like this
ad infinitum

is to lap herself
without apology or regret