Side by side in the kitchen’s dull light,  

He watches Annie slice d'matoes with gentle might.  

Red crescents fall in soft array 

Still cutting, her mind drifts away.

Though hands stay true, her thoughts unwind,  

Down paths too shadowed for the mind.  

"What comes when breath and heartbeat cease?" 

“Can love outlive the soul’s release?”

"What lies beyond?" Her questions race

“Do lives dissolve without a trace?”

"What if the day is just the night,

Too weak to cast a lasting light?"

“What if he goes before I do?”

“Is death a lie we take as true?”

“What is real, and what is not?”

“Is there a truth, and what if not?”

The blade still moves, her eyes now glaze,  

As thoughts churn deep in quiet haze.  

Then, palm to cheek, his touch draws near,  

And lifts her from that spiral fear.

"Time won't tell what fate conceals,  

But now is all that life reveals.  

Let questions come, don't let them weigh

This moment shines, then slips away.

Her rhythm resumes.