but the ache of living never fades

by arlen c.

tell me again how we drowned ourselves in the community pool
last august. filled ourselves with crimes and sank like sorrow

to the bottom. remember? even when our bodies broke themselves

trying to float, our hearts were paperweights. tell me about

how we caught rays of sunlight and tangled them in our skins,

kissed the sins out of each other until we were holy once more.

tell me how we pretended the chlorine water was angel tears,

rinsed our corpses with shaking fingers and abandoned them

when we were clean. we wouldn’t need them anymore.

previously published on my blog here.