rosegold

the conclusion to the six part series death of a muse

here’s to the speak easy i dragged you to

brass cried blue,
you drank your drink slow,
said you loved the stories i told

funny,
every story was you

last call came,
we kept pouring the dark through
whiskey and what-ifs,
splitting the bill with the moon

you couldn’t see it,
or maybe you chose not to

i thought we were fate
wearing friendship as a costume

you drew that line years ago,
i never crossed it

just carried my heart
like contraband through every conversation

now every night feels longer

i replay your laugh,
remix your phrases,
turn memory to maintenance

you were just having drinks,
just killing time

i was watching my whole future
sit across from me

maybe God put you in my life
like a lesson dressed as a blessing

to teach me some people are gifts

and some are wounds
that never stop stretching





…..



over where the trees burned down,
i still plant your name in ash.

they say heal,
but healing feels too much like having you last.

i could leave,
trade your ghost for peace of mind,
but i’d rather house the haunt
than evict what’s left behind.

so i stay.

heartbreak’s a garden.
i keep watering what died,
because grief is just love
with nowhere left to hide.

hope something blooms from it,
hope spring forgives the rain,
but i’d rather spend forever in your memory
than learn a life without your name.

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i do not own the right to this photo. don’t sue me gang.