Echo

Rapping on the wall
I heard an echo
resonating like a bell.
Hail rattled on the roof.
Rain pelted the windows.
Rafters moaned with heartache.
A wave melted in the air.
I felt the heartbeat
of a soul.
Then silence
like the intake of a sob,
a wing
motionless,
and all the atoms of the earth
stopped,
and I touched the wall
like a wounded child,
going back to sleep.