Now you’re gone

My hands grasp tight the empty air

And I can hear my breath

If this song doesn’t strike me down

Then the hunger will

The air is sucked out of my lungs like the speckled stars in an unlucky galaxy

ingested by a wormhole

These bit down fingernails hanging around my throat like a gaudy piece of costume jewelry

Whole memories of brimming love,

Our fingers camped alongside one another

Your square set nails and skin like nutmeg sprinkled onto a glass of frothed milk

When staring into your eyes, a still puddle reflecting a summer sky,

Didn’t cut me

Dancing because it all rose before us magnificently

The dog scratches his ear

Thudding the ground with his paw

I can hear crickets just outside the open window

To have and to hold

From this day forward