Interval and Terminus

When does one know when an interval
has turned into a terminus? I did not hear
a word from the one I longed for,
I did not gain any sign or portent
of an easing or thaw. 

In the town where we lived years ago, 
nuns in a convent kept vigil in pairs, 
prostrating themselves before the altar.
When they were not doing that, they sang
as a choir; they sifted flour and water into wafers.

We brought them trays of eggs
as offerings and wrote our poor
little petitions on prayer cards. Here,
I have no vestibule into which to slip them.
Here, I pen words and press them into books.