Rationed time

[melodily]

We speak
of lasting, of marriage,
of holding each other's wrinkled bodies
as tightly as we do in the mornings now;
veins of bony hands 
growing over each other's arms, and skin 
touching skin of cracked lips. Maybe,
I think at times, all couples
have a quota of how long
they can spend with each other, a ration
given by fate, and the measly grains of time
we get now 
will eventually be made up for 
in the far future-

if I think that, maybe
the throb of my gastric
would not resound so violently,

and the fistful of seconds
I get each day
would be enough
to silence an overhungry stomach's growls.