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said

you can’t love

if you deceive

his smock

crumpled around the collar

loose at the waist

reaching for a ring

from his desk drawer

saw him after mass

his wife

tied around the waist

her dress

black with delicate

white accents

swirls and doves racing

down the side

she said

love

only works if you’re honest

and pulled at

the little goose egg of fat

underneath his chin

he said

true love

lives in both darkness

and light

while he rubbed a red rash

on his neck

splotchy

like the Milky Way seen over

a cold desert

while he went to talk

to the manager

the pins were stuck

she told me

love dies in darkness

but always holds on

a seed under concrete

waiting for some grand

unearthing

some accidental renovation

some bureaucrat’s do good

initiative

I last saw them at a

charity function on the coast

her beaming and picking

petals off a flower

waiting

unwinding

waiting

him picking petals off a flower

waiting

unwinding

waiting