Eulogy

what happened to our hearts
where went my aliveness
my dead is all that remains

so many dewdrops flushed down the plumbing
so many kisses ripped off our lips
cheap Velcro in the garbage

I’m just trying to be honest
lovely you
I promise

something curled between us and perished
slowly, cancerous and fading
its ghost still coming back to sting us

but once we were free
isn’t that right?
did I imagine this all?

once we were fresh and reckless
all cigarette smoke and tinkling bells
free beer in the moonlight

we must be out there somewhere still
perhaps someone new picked us up
changed our names

perhaps a teenager is using us for his own
for a time, until he dies, too
and then the three of us will float away again

at least we’re being resurrected somehow
by young people with pink fingers
we were young once together

and I am sorry this is what we have made of us.