The Long Goodbye

For Patricia.

There was fake ivy on the walls
And outside, real lilac in bloom
Such a warm day
Your hands were too cold,
Too fragile to bear
Each rattling breath was a battle won
In a war with no victor

I watched
Felt lost in losing you

What could I have said?
Even if I'd had a voice...
What could have been said?
-you're a ghost and not yet dead-

The sanctity of that silence,
The weight of it, was enough