The Tree he killed us with

The Tree he killed us with

He didn’t just carve our names on it

he buried my broken heart in the severed roots

and in the silence I rot

in flesh I am extinct

He said it would grow back

trees do that, he told me

then he packed up my breath

and left it gasping by the shed

The bark flaked like skin after sunburn

his initials peeled first

then mine like dead weight

slid to the dirt, unread and unmissed

He came back once

with someone smaller than me

she laughed too loudly

he showed her the stump

called it old history

I was the echo that followed them home

the cough in his throat he blamed on the cold

I slept in his dreams with a cracked smile

a worm in his apple

a voice in the leaves

The roots reached for nothing

he never came back

but I did

with matches and a bottle

and the wind on my side

No prayers for that tree

no tears for the rings

I watched it collapse

like my voice when I called him

and he didn’t pick up.