Once we were like that.

Once we were folded
in on ourselves
thumb to eyelid, toes to thigh

life humming to us
through its soft powerful rope.

Later we straightened out,
taught all our parts their places

only going back
in grief or in dreams –

as my great-grandfather dies
in his village in Japan

his daughter running from her bath
but missing the moment, his wife

lifting his knees to his chest
after shaving him for the last time.