Along

By Rae Armantrout

A scatter
of cold cases

makes two
separate strings.

Rival news hours
mime discovery.

*

For so long
we've been practicing—

unwrapping
our surprise.

*

In heaven
the soul is sheltered

from the expanse
of time.

It contracts
to a point
of light

or spreads out
"all along"
like a wave.

*

The real is what
can't escape