What Was That

At two in the morning

the siren splits into two voices.

One going up, one staying

flat and wrong,

and I can't tell if the second

is real or just my ear

breaking itself to make sense

of what it heard.

I check the fire department map.

Nothing.

I go back to emails.

The siren is gone.

But now I'm listening for it

the way you listen for someone

calling your name

from another room,

and you know they didn't,

but you're listening anyway,

and the house gets quiet

in a way that feels like proof.