"Fear”

Neither your breakfast cough
nor the intangible dreams between
your night intervals
or the latest body count
have helped you herd his fears
into submission

and letting him by first
as you open the door
to step outside in time for
your usual survey
is not an act of assurance

There is little to see,
outline and shape gone.
You inhale and exhale
the cold morning fog
as deeply as you can

but you are losing
the argument;
you are breathing the air
he just exhaled