she asked me for
a picture
to prove i was
who i said i was
so i sent her x-rays
of the skeletal deficiency
that creaks inside
the flesh of tender lies

she said i was beautiful
stripped bare of
gradual atrophy
laid out in calcified remnants
of pre-evolutionary denials
a missing link between
the harsh realities
of whispered nothingness

it was a love story
told in protein blocks of
lost phrases
lost phases
neutrinos scattered amongst
the star dust
in her roaming eye
of efficient regret