I. An Expiration
The sky looks like a bouquet of lilacs
have been set on fire.
Did you know
you were seeing your last
sunset when you saw it?
I imagine your smooth skin lit up an
apricot orange
and burrowed within it
a sense
of what is not
and what is never
to come.
II. A True Story
A man woke up from a coma
after twelve years
because he hated
what had been playing on the television
in the ICU
and he just could not
take it anymore.
III. A Resurrection
I dreamt that you clawed your way
out of your grave
because you were furious
that we had let you go
too soon.
I told Craig about it but
when I said it I realized how sad it had sounded
coming out of my mouth.
I worried that it worried him.
It wasn't sad, I tried to explain,
it was miraculous.
You were mad but you were.
IV. A Decision
On the airplane to see you,
I told a girl that you used to flirt with
that you had been intubated.
In that moment she said that she knew
but I didn't.
There we were,
both of us cast into darkness.
But your darkness was just blackness,
emptiness,
quiet cortexes with no movement,
no hope for recovery, there would be
no coming back from this,
no speech, no autonomy,
no agency, no
life that you would have wanted to live.
V. A Thought
The television was just too quiet.
VI. A Follow-Up Thought
You liked what was playing and so you stayed.