Embers

My eyes rest upon you -

all bone china and gossamer,

skin breaking beneath the weight of 

a single eyelash.

I strain to remember how to escape

the fragility of your pale frame.

Some instinct remains, an errant memory

Instigating a faint gesture.

Ghosts flutter past your eyes

before stuttering out.

A banal smile

fixed upon the ashes.

The sweet stench of decay clings to our sheets

Trying to contain our breath,

Lurching towards drowning 

in the stagnant pool we created.