Consumption

Sullied in summer and waning by fall Body frail and broken far beyond repair Your skin flaking off and softest of all The refracted beams in all her split hairs She may hide in shadows in the night But still, you hear the wretched sighs The wretch is choking all the time Consumed by her cruelest and final fight Oh, watch her fly away Spitting and twitching and waking afraid Eyes latched on these new puddles forming, And the stains that stubbornly remain The blood will still be waiting in the morning Walk through the alleyways, walk through the stones Fly through the time left, with your hollow bird-bones The doctors stole your kidneys and they stole your vertebrae Your heart still beating wildly, but they took it anyway And they all looked down, remarking, “See, how she flies away”