I Would Have Stolen You a Whole Orchestra

You carry all your weight

Tightly stretched across your face

Like evidence or proof that everything aged you

I measured steady breaths

(afraid of truth, or of being rebuked)

"what horrible things cling to you?"

I did not expect to get an answer at all

Or for your to let your guard down

But either a ghost or a sigh escaped you

Your color fled, though your resistance would not be moved

You said, "when you have given so much, so little remains.

Like a wound that will never heal, all that's left is to wait"