Lacking the intimate tu, and with thou fallen out of fashion, I can only use a neutral word, one that won't allow me to explain how, as I lose myself in that hour of the afternoon when I feel most afraid, uncertain of what's coming, knowing only that it's soon — how as I lie down, drawing the curtains like a patient in a hospital, I'm filled with what the day's forgotten, all the stray images, stories, the small acts of will that won't matter, the sound of the bay insistent, meaningless, without clues — how I want to say it, what I most fear losing:© Kim Addonizio
from The Philosopher's Club (BOA Editions, 1994)