“She believes what doesn’t kill her only takes more time to kill her.”—The Pernice Brothers
It is not the dead who need peace
for it is all but assured
that they are not
haunted
And it is not the dead
that haunt us;
it is the life we had together
now so clearly filled with places
wanting more
dreaming of different
requiring better
the opportunity cost
of the opportunities lost
beyond our heart’s calculation
and the ghosts of a future
we both saw, and assumed would be ours;
but all that’s left to me is hours
of wondering where you are
why you had to go
and whether it’s wrong to wonder
how soon I’ll be with you again
a strange change
in that your death was the worst thing that
ever happened to me,
but my death, now, seems
a possible blessing, and
finally
something I’m able to look forward to.