Love and Other Burdens
Love is exhausting—
hours falling like petals
as daylight burns
and the smell of oil,
of steel, sears my eyes shut.
Still, it is lonely.
There are graves keeping me
company, there is the
smell of fire, a house hollowed
by memories and smoke.
And it is hard,
it is impossible to sleep
when I know I could wake
to the heavy military knock,
to a coffin at my door;
Can I live knowing you
could disappear from this earth
as suddenly as a soldier can
snap, as suddenly as
a woman can sicken?
And yet I must,
because the tears you won't
shed may drown you; and
who but me will cry
so that you may breathe?