We felt them, the tremors
when it first hit the earth’s core, creating
an undulation in this home.
We trembled like the rocks buried
miles deep under our supple knees.
Yet nothing felt as startling
as this earthquake – not even as sudden –
when we hugged each other
after we severed ties. Thinking
how you closeted me in your arms
that night
for the last time remaining
as the earth moved slowly beneath us,
as the bricks fell down into the earth,
the sound of your footsteps leaving,
our home in partial ruins –
these moved me to tears.
