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"Terminal Illness" by RM Grant

I watched you digging in the doorway

piling sod at the rim of the hole

until it sat like a small hill

in the space between our bedroom

and the corridor


you turned and spoke

across the distance

but the pit

swallowed your voice


we hollowed the earth like this

nightly

at each of our thresholds

bolstering our membranes with liquor

and dressing our lips with mourning gowns


so many hours

spent kneeling beside it

tossing our futures in

like offerings


(Grave,

you swallowed them like spit)


so bleak we were

in your presence and indifference

that we failed to see the blooming

our gifts had made:

the pungent green rising

from the depths

of our composted hopes.


Had we only known the spectacular flame

a billion burning dreams can be,

or take into account the afterwards:

a spring rain mixing with ash

and turning to ink.


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