Bowdlerize

you were gone and
there were crumbs on the countertop
left behind morsels strewn across
faded butcher block
& affixed to butter knife
they were the last you’d eaten

they told me it was painless
and they arrested the other driver
i don’t know what happens next

we’re told to watch for better days
in and out of some invisible fog
suddenly bereft
a boat without anchor
a compass with no north