Having Gone to the Cleveland Museum of Art Seeking Life and Finding Only Death.

The modern wing was closed
so we strolled through the ancient pieces,
a room full of disembodied heads,
vacant eyes almost sinister,
a young man's headless torso,
shrouds, coffins, headstones
in rooms the temperature of tombs.

Outside in the warm light of day
I breathed deep considering art
and my own mortality.