(after reading Before by Yehuda Amichai)
Before the frost
has left the pane
before the dawn
has come again,
before the bell
has stopped its ring,
before we think
we know something,
before the spring,
before the gasp,
before the time
for sowing’s past,
before the gap
cannot be leapt,
before the final
tears are wept,
before the honey’s
crystallized,
before the kitchen’s
sterilized,
before we remember,
before the signs,
before we think
we have more time.