i kissed her, then i left her

and left shame strewn across the floor

her candle’s soft flames gently seared

my shadow in the corridor

she watched me from the mattress edge

and stared at me as i got dressed

i left her draped in numbness

deaf and blind to me, we’d lost our heads

her silhouette cut through the moonlight

i couldn’t hear the words she said

they dripped defeated from her mouth,

and collected in her face instead.