Weeping she whispered ‘I don’t want to go’ constricting me like a widows throat. ‘No one will love me as you do’ ‘Why can’t anyone see it’? from that moment I learned her fears yet couldn’t free it. We made love for centuries Kissing her body of bark Counting twenty ancient rings Carving into her flesh A grave of destiny Her mother grieves for. Our shadows lay as plinths; In a room where hands lay limp time caresses numerals With hands which strangled love, timeless; Stopping forever at twenty thirty two.