the brief but shining beauty
of
the perfect restraint
when the public defender's tongue slips still
on pulsing tumors and slanderous truths
to each its day in court
the gentle arrest, arrest
of the snowslope climber
before the gentler arrest of the heart
some miles from the track
the conviction of the hand of god
to drop the guillotine blade
the loudest sound in a crowd
that no one could've missed
but we all pretend
never exists
the unmatched faith
of an ice skater
doing pirouettes
in the dark
of all our cosmic dances