Communion

Blas Falconer

They open their mouths

because the body's hunger speaks

for the spirit. You know this

by the way they close

their eyes, how they push

the world away, all that

light through the window.

It is unbearable to watch

as watching two people say

goodbye at the airport is --

almost -- the public display

of grief, how they hold

each other in

their private dark, which is

its own silent prayer.