Rest in Peace

Like dried roses in my books,

you were left dead in the past,

flipped through after a quick search,

just to remember the faintest scent.

A shock across my spine, so ghastly,

when someone mentions your name,

it still lives on, like a wild rose garden,

as I shovel your grave in my head.

Love and hurt run in confused circles.

Betrayed by our breakup, I grieved you alive.

Years of pruning only blinded my eyes,

everyone else could still see you just fine.

Do you hear me when I speak to your ghost?

Are you a stranger with the same name?

Are you the one who still speaks of my love,

Did you read my letters in the sea, sky, and moon?

I know better than to reopen the casket;

I’d rather hold the dried flowers than the rotten;

I miss you; I crave and I yearn for the times.

But I choose for you to stay dead to me. RIP.