Dad Says I Can't Die | 2023

My dad says love

Is the only thing

That can’t die.

And if that is true I do

not know why I am so afraid

of dying. Perhaps

it is because I have seen

a boy become a solar eclipse,

a moon in passing, a son

fully covered by a dark lid.

Perhaps I am afraid.

because in this world

We wear our angels

on our shirts. the only

protection I know peels

away after a wash. In this

world our candlelit sky is

always a vigil. Everything

we love will soon become

an artifact. And I am afraid

that one day my love will

bring my chain to a gathering

and talk about how I was

the safest she’s ever been.