Kati

I look at your picture and think
what a waste
your beauty,
your laugh,
all lost as you were
before now.
Before it:
stole all you had
raped your soul
and left you empty.
It sold your family
it killed your son
it dragged you lower
and kick you;
beat you.
Hurt you more than words
than fists;
took from you the only thing worth having
and you fed it
out of fear
out of necessity:
out of hope.
We lost not you
you've been gone so long
we buried your shell
put flowers above you
kissed your swollen cheeks
told you lies.
You didn't hear anyway.
Wished for something no one ever gets:
a second chance.
I look at your photo
I look at mine.
I see our fates,
once entwined,
withered away like the
rose from your grave.
I loved you once,
and want to still,
goodbye old friend
we'll meet again
not as you or I
but as the one we've always been.