• Counting on the tips of each finger,
    watching the lines
    swirl
    and twist under my gaze,
    feeling the hourglass
    run the oil smooth, and finally
    rip the numbers out.
    A staggering number
    a staggering time
    a number
    of times.
    The numbers I lost to
    death. The times I lost--
    I lost
    to living. The time
    I won--finally
    dying in the hourglass
    and melting into the sand
    of peaceful corpses.