I'm outside having a little cancer moment, under the ugly yellow lamppost that washes out everything in a kind of sickly glow, when I hear what has to be the loneliest sound in the world.

It's like it's coming from inside me, distilling everything I've thought about this past fortnight. I think about the balancing act with the dishes that have to keep spinning or they fall. Just when you save a pair, another two or four shatter at your feet.

I love breaking noises but not in that context.

I listen to the coyote's sad wavery song a little longer before going back in.