Time Stamps: Elegy 8

But whom do people kill? They kill the noble, the brave, the heroes. They take aim at these and do not know that with these they mean themselves. They should sacrifice the hero in themselves, and because they do not know this, they kill their courageous [sister].

--Carl Jung, The Red Book

Or, they kill the mirror

That reflects themselves

As if surface were allegory

For depth / and depth

Could speak in words

And words could kill

What they hate they

Cannot see in themselves

But saw in you / trans-

posed to light / radiant

In your little house

By the creek / frog-

infused / where you

Put your tent out

Back some nights

Cacophony the mirror

Of silence / frog song

Mantras chanted to

Mark a prelude

“Don’t expect thoughts

To stop,” they say

They never do

But you can drop

Them like towels

In a basket / snow

On city street / you

Offered us the silence

Of your frequent

Absences—off to do

This! Do that!--

Neighbor looked up

To see her missing

Dog at the edge

Of her lanai / only

Her time had passed

Not his / for he was

There / Is your death absence

Or return? Your photo

On my fridge place-holds

The question / time stamp

Reads 2001 / March / afternoon

Now 2024 / July / morning

Dog and I turned back

When it began to rain