letter

Letter to a love now faded

Arms so corpse-like
thinning
cool steam rising
greyish-brown ash
sinew

Cold can be so cold
just enough
brain cells eroded
empty hippocampus
release

Forever, you said,
ah, forever
can be longer than now
infinity was vanity
swollen

If we lived in another time
You would have eight souls
And me an afterworld of loving
Your secret name, I’d know
But mine
(there’s the rub)
I’d’ve never told you in the first
place
(there's the rub)

Eight lifetimes was enough
we lived
we died so many nights
to live and possess each other
visitations

You will haunt my memory
Still, of course
I can't write you away
"Fade," the pen screams, "fade"
corporeality

This I know
Cold is the only truth
this voice on the wind
hair in my sink
is all that remains
of eternity.