The Anatomy of Grief

skilled in advancing from loss

I heal at the speed of everything

you almost kept but relinquished

as your hands contemplated

their threshold for grace, life

grief is a chameleon I am

modeling my pace from you after:

yesterday I mimicked a systole

kind to the myocardium

today I am a wave

of blood flooding an atrium

losing you is a familiar but distant pain:

palpable but won’t let me touch it

there is no nomenclature to contextualize

how I felt when I feared you were leaving

and heard of your departure.