The Excuse and the Escape

What are clouds, but an excuse for the sky  

to feign distance, then dissolve in rain?  

What is time, but the clock’s cruel tick  

unmasking every hour’s pretense of permanence?  

What is laughter, but the mask of grief  

grinning behind the mirror’s thin veil?  

What is love, but a leap into loss,  

a promise sealed, awaiting its shatter?  

What is silence, but the breath of sound  

pausing to listen to its own void?  

What is life, but an escape from death,  

a flight of steps leading nowhere—then gone?