Seconds to Miles

Like thunder too-quick behind lightning
your voice turns to the long
list of echoing disappointments
that rattle through your life.
Your heart is set to normal
before the spitty sadness
I can't quite swallow
will even pass my teeth.

When I was a kid we'd sit
high in un-air conditioned windows
and think we could count
the seconds between flash and clap
like miles between us and danger.
Now that I try it with you
it seems foolish, an old sailor's trick
that never works on land,
but I keep hoping we'll either
take shelter someplace low
or sit in the open and steel ourselves
long enough to face the horizon.