Written by Alice Keane
Artwork by Alex Wilbur
CW: Death.
This piece was originally published in ‘Memento Mori’, Bossy’s 2021 print edition.
Sometimes
i imagine his place
in the dirt
in the wind in
the lines in
my eyes
as that shadow fades
in the mourning light
and empathy deranged
is forced back upon me.
Rarely do I think
about the way his body
—alight with the changing of ways—
will drown in the
earthly necessity
that now keeps his warmth
perfect
unfettered by the seasons.
Often do I push away
the knowledge that these two images
are inextricably linked
that
— to be loose in the wind
in a freedom beyond my grasp
venturing into places he will not see
will not feel —
is to be engulfed by that
indiscriminate halo
of destructive intent
commanded by my hand
and executed by a stranger.
