on our last night together
we went to see a movie
and visited a toy store
it was 1999
and we were on the verge
of everything
I still remember
how still that night was
the hot May air
windless
your eyes just as still
I felt a tremor
of presentiment
and laughed
to shake it off
but it clung
doglike
to my feet
at the toy store
I bought a bottle of bubbles
you smiled in response
but it failed
to reach your eyes
in the parking lot
I was pushing back
the tears
unable to escape the feeling
that the ground
was about to be ripped
from underneath my feet
I unscrewed the cap
and blew a few halfhearted bubbles
into the still night air
we watched them float
in midair
for a moment
before disappearing
into
nothingness