Death hangs over me
like storm clouds
I am mere bones
feigning to be whole
If you look closely
you can see
my skeletal sockets
where blue eyes
once shined–now empty
lifeless, no beauty
See these arms?
Trace each scar
feel each vein, deaden
I’ve leeched
blood too often
no pulse
And this battered heart?
A fisted stone, hardened
by years of love lost
beats became stillness
even you cannot spark
a rapid response
no currents
I am dead
reduced to bones
bury me
and bid me rest!
©January 2016 Lori Burks