2400
the arms of your old life
open to let you go
and you leave
the bitter nectar of regret clinging to your tongue
like someone's saliva impossible to swallow
more impossible to ignore
25 years of memories not so easy to forget
you hear her laughter in your sleep
still reach for her in a bed now much too large
and much too empty
her memory follows you
a dull heavy shadow
ever present
she has blossomed in your absence
relaxed into her beauty
a rose a week into its bloom
her petals soft but oh the lushness of her red
and you miss her
as
she moves about her life without you
you have never known a greater want
but she sees
you
through vision obscured by pain
and her love for you feels like a rare and strange fever
that has left her weakened
but immune
and it hurts you to think she does not love you anymore
and that the love you worked so hard to kill
has finally died
and is beyond resurrection
