We Are All Frozen

we’ve all seen the millennium
idolatry of conversation
of ghosts we have in common
when you’ve made other plans
you must enter community
their voice, originally howls
this is the reflex of nighttime
crawl into one another’s version
safely carries with it paper lanterns
you light across my river
in contract these brief silences
rest of the day is this wait
what goes up must
breath itself into waking