By the Memory and by the Minute

By the Memory and by the Minute

Darkness mocks me

Stares back into my
Wide open eyes.

The hell with digital clocks
Is they
Flash time precisely
Unlike the grace of
Sweep second hands.

So I dance
With my demons

By the memory and

By the minute
Wondering endlessly
At the why's
And where-of's
Of this too-brief
Life.

Had I stood

A half inch to the left
Those bullets
Would have killed me.

Had I have been 

A bit more kind
She would have stayed.

Had I stopped

For coffee
Or had I not
Taken that call
Pivotal elements of my life
Would not have

Happened.

Life is the construct

Of choices made

In a single second.

I tease
At life’s frayed edges
Unraveling the moments
In the dark.

The void stares back at me

And I know...

Sleep is paper
Memory fuel
And time fire.