you left

and the sky got stuck on dusk

and the earth wore petrichor
instead of her inherent black
to the funeral of our bruised love
as if knowing
that all
that would yet rain here
would be dust

the birds
bereft of you
to sing of

expelled only static

spring
summer and fall
slipped into winter’s grasp
and all that would yet bloom
or bleed
could only do so
in umbral shades of misery

every record player
scratched the same message
into the very heartstrings of silence

-.-. — — .  -… .- -.-. -.-

and every clock
incessantly kept chiseling away
at that same second
as if time
were a diamond
holding you captive

you left

and the whole world ceased to be

just to hold on
to your fading silhouette
for a moment longer

and it was just like you had promised

that mutual assured destruction
was to be the only way
by which death’s unremitting hunger
would ever stand a chance
of tearing you asunder

you left

and took with you
all remaining hope
that truth would ever get
to settle its debt
to wonder.