i think had she known
the task
the burden
the tireless need
that comes with loving one
as broken as i
she would have been deterred
it isn’t as if
i didn’t warn her
my poetry alone
should have been
dissuasive enough
yet she cracked down
on the hollow tooth
let the cyanide flood
into her system
against doctor’s orders
so when she
at last
snapped out of the
year and a half coma
to view the monster
she had thought to tame
let the awareness
of wasted time
wash over her
like glacial melt
in the spring
she had no one to blame
but me
so she did
then left

i don’t bandy about
important things
like love and forever
but she taught me
they were
mutually exclusive
and that is what
i cannot get over