My eyes abide the blighted light
of the yellow-leafed tree.
Please set my stone here
and let us both rest.
But please stop and listen —
I know you can hear it,
the grief in my spirit,
and you see the fraying of my days,
my finite breaths
fading away.
I still lean into old memories,
away from you,
away from who
I wanted to be.
I did not expect to be loved so well.