Chiaroscuro

Headlights through the kitchen window
Are you finally home?
Head down on the table watching an abstract puppet show
With the light hope rises in the darkness, well, there it goes
As I lose myself in chiaroscuro
Car keys clatter on the tile
You lunge for the phone
Your voice like a frightened child’s: he’s had some kind of stroke
Be calm my dear, I’m just moving a little slow
As it all approaches absolute zero

Now there's no one behind the curtain
How you hate hospitals
I know it's an awful burden, but that's the way it goes
I’d let you off the hook but by now you and I should know
We’re involved in something irreversible
They say nothing survives
But in the case we do
I’m afraid of my posthumous state
I don't know if karmic residue is something that you'd even recognize
So here's what I'm going to do:
Take some time to erase myself, and then
Whatever's left I'll leave with you
I’ll bury it in you