Romeo

Three weeks since I buried you

Still plagued by the desire

To dig you up

Underneath the oak tree

Where the ground had thawed

Clawful and dirt-laced

My hands

A Ferris wheel

Of dirt

Excavating

My last breath

Open the shoebox

And press you to my face

Kiss your lip-smeared locket

The one my grandfather gave me

My face, mirrored in your eyes

Now we are settled in the bath

Removed from the stench

Steeping, arrogant soil

Does my matter compel you?

The same way—

Reincarnation?

A place among the stars

We fester together

In the sludge

Decomposing

Your sediment

Underneath my fingernails

My blistered cuticles

A swollen remembrance

Blood vessels beating

To the tune of your shriveled heart

I eat it

You are mine

Placed back in the scarlet box

Wrapped in linen

And planted in the ground

Another sapling,

Eager

For spring’s tidings