Kairosclerosis ✔ [poetry]

denouement

30

DENOUEMENT

⸻

today you visited my grave.

been a long time since you were here,

brought me to tears.

you didn't bring your fiance,

nor flowers.

maybe because you know

the corpse of the phalaenopsis you

had laid across my tombstone

was still there,

lost amongst overrunning crabgrass,

broadleaf plantain

and dandelions.

you burned joss paper by my marker,

cleaned out the ash stray and

lit a new incense stick,

rooted out the weeds,

and murmured a prayer as you dug up earth.

the brittle ash, once were my bones and organs,

disintegrated under your lightest touch.

your lone jagged shadows

casted upon the uneven ground,

simmered from billowing heatwaves.

the scorching summer sun cracked open

the soil i was buried under.

we watched

green money and yellow houses and

crimson cars crumbled

in the fierce fire.

we watched black smoke shimmered skyward,

tainting pure teal into a dirty cobalt shade.

we watched harsh eastern wind

chipped and weathered the final bits of my coffin,

smeared sands and grimes on my name,

date of birth,

date of death,

until the letters and numbers engraved

on polished granite were nothing more

than primal etches.

you hadn't cried till then.

the dirt,

the fire,

must have gotten into your eyes.

'cause i wasn't the type to be remembered by.

carefully, i knelt

by your side.

listening to your soft sighs.

head pressed against the trembling spot

at the top of your spine.

back when i was alive, i'd have minded.

comforting others wasn't my forte,

yet, today, i tried.

i tried.

even if it was too late to be kind.

it was nice to do at least one thing for you

before i truly died.