thick-walled tomb

a slapping hand, numb and beet red

all sound absorbed

nothing passes

but a tremor

knocking loose a grain of sand

one sand grain for all the frantic panic

for all the screaming, kicking, and pounding

a grain of sand no one will miss

it’ll hit the earth without a shock wave

it’ll tumble into a pile of its kind, becoming indistinguishable

it’ll happen in the space between heartbeats

all that frenetic energy eaten by stone

the sum of a human life force in its final throes

muted by a tomb