the r0z garden

six hundred and fifty nights 
thirteen hundred meals 
14,410,000 breaths 

crystalline tears and quiet moments 
an eternity, side-by-side 
a limb, a phantom 

ghosts cry out from within 
the hollow of my stomach 
unaware that they have died 

if love was quantifiable  
if romance were a constant  
I’d re-run the numbers 

rescind my calculations 
shred them to confetti  
and throw a ticker-tape parade 

so you could take me 
underneath the falling ashes 
like a spoil of war 

the object of your affection 
polished and displayed 
watching life from a high shelf 

but I have fallen 
shattered and glimmering  
into jumbled fragments of myself 

you look down in disgust 
and I slither into darkness 
exactly where you found me 

stars whisper your name 
the moon turns its pallid face 
bathing me in shadow 

nothing here remains 
a vessel, cracked and broken 
warm, but empty 

time, our nurse and coroner  
despite the vernal sun  
we wither to dust