By One

My father's last breath

will follow

his next to last

by one.

My father's last breath

won't have the will

to cool a tea cup,

but it will change heaven

and earth

by one.

My father's last breath

will leave us looking at the lake,

the lake evaporating

to make clouds,

the clouds going dark

to make tears.

Eternity will begin

with this last breath.

Wheat and chaff,

the only consequence

worthy of our soul,

separated, one by one,

by the One.