Katrina Kaye

I stay until the clouds
come into your eyes.
Your body too warm
to convince me it is only a shell.

Although a chill has yet
to set into bones,
a placidity envelopes
around you more securely
than my arms ever could.

It is earth shattering;
it is broken rib
sticking its shards into lungs.

If I believed in heaven,
I could accept
you fled to a better place.
If I believed in a god
I could find
comfort knowing you are
at peace.

As it is,
I know only
you’re gone.

There was a time
I wanted to name all the trees
after your kindness.
Count leaves on stretched
fingers to recollect
how many days you
showed me love.

You healed scars
strapped across my spine
and allowed blackened feet
to balance on railroad tracks.
I was invincible
in the reflection of your eyes.

Now I stand alone beside
breakable body,
my finely woven plots
riddled with holes,
drowning in stillness.

“Stillness” is previously published in the collection, my verse…, published by Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC in 2012.