What is this space
That lies between the lines
In this desert of sound
Conversation measures time

They speak to me in a distance
That not like a length
But an emptiness that lies between
Their words that have no weight

Where is our sense of gravity
When family worships age
When wisdom is the sum
Of the total of our days

When children are born as sinners
Their elders die as saints
In this religion of the aged
Decrepit moral state