Gas

you still remember how you
read his face, how you
(thought you) saw in his face
something that was not quite right
still speaking superficially,
professionally mainstreaming with

eyes up down left right
and fingers shifty, fists gripped
while making a reasonable point
just like any other saturday
but lacking true engagement

it was already in him here, even
as he went about his routines
the ghost the absence the
appointments which won't need cancelling
messages which won't need writing

and it's already in you, can you feel its
suffocation yet can you taste
its annihilation it's coming now