I would welcome you

If I knew you

Were there

          Outside

The entrance

To my little religion

Of loss. I would

Pray prayers

Of devotion, but

My teeth are

           Missing

And I can’t hear

Myself

Well enough

To know

If I know the words

            By heart. My heart,

I can’t hear it

Thumping. I only see what I see

Because I see it, and

All is red

Or darker like the shadow

           Moving just beyond

This stained glass.