When You Leave

Once again there is that protection,
that wall where things are hidden
within warm arms and hands.
Yet the shield is a secret bomb,
unwilling to blast this novelty to bits
but unable to stop the tick, tick, tick.
Time slips through the mind,
the moment comes ever closer,
not so far in the future now.
Everyone knows it is coming,
its characteristic fear begging to slide in,
but ignored and set aside, a bad omen.
So, when the event comes,
when the world seems to have faded gray,
shock will hit like an earthquake, shaking us.
Shaking, shaken, shook, and now what are we?
a pile of dust just waiting for the past
to rewind itself.