So often you look at something
without really seeing it like when
we saw you & your ten friends
staring into the sky
Later that day you couldn’t say
without first closing your eyes
if the clouds had been high
& wispy or thick & glacier white
& we not thinking of your shock
at hopes yanked away then restored
only saw the unblinking eyes
of eleven men turned toward heaven
though since your Lord had just slipped
from sight your hearts burned
& again might whenever clouds come near
to the way they appeared that day