How Long Can We Stay Here?

“How long can we stay here? Twenty minutes? A day?”
“Maybe a minute. And never forget.”
The ceiling fan whirled and wiped
Away the smoke of the cigarette.

Say you will do something, or never
Do something, and you will recall--
(How you knew that God is the ground
Of the world. The silent fall

Of snow.) Sometimes your life itself
Improves what you thought you knew
(The silent blue never-ending
Stream.) reflect, release, undo--

And sometimes it all was true (the days
You saw what you never saw
Again) because we are just brutes,
(And drunkards take the place of awe.)