Love Poem: Slow Death
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Written by: James Kelley

Slow Death

It rolled off my tongue like a tumbleweed, 
and you stood there dazed. 
A disease waiting for the injection.
 I laughed. 
Not because I hated you, 
but because there was nothing 
left to do but watch the reality of
 the world sink into your bones. 
You finally understood why the 
stones you throw fall into the lake. 
Not because of gravity,
 but because they're old souls 
too tired of keeping their heads above water.
 Just like us. 
We were drowning each other. 
Maybe love is too dense, 
maybe mankind too shallow?  
Or maybe we're just a bunch of filthy 
 animals that should have never came up 
with such a fairy tale like love in the first place.
 But we did, 
and here we are in the midst of a chapter
 barely breathing between sighs 
that lie to us both. 
Bodies that yearn for one another 
knowing that we admittedly barely adjust
 each day to the other's mental inclinations.
 Heavy with lust our souls twist,
 bend, and almost break under the 
feeling that made them come alive. 
It has become an infection! 
"I don't know how I'm going to survive you."
 
 -James Kelley 2013, All rights reserved.