"Some Ether" by Nick Flynn

I don’t know if you can read this now, you

without a body, without a hand on the wheel…



For years physicists were searching outerspace

for some ether electromagnetic waves

could travel through.
It was Einstein who said,
you can’t find it because it isn’t there…
Your hair would be gray now.

You led me upstairs to my great-grandmother’s bed


her hair floating white above her skull

as if it had already left her.

I never knew her not to be blind.

She reached out to read my face

your hands firm on my back.

you can’t find it because it isn’t there
You without a body a compass without oars

your hands are useless in this world, 

resting on my shoulders