If you're gonna love me
you gotta love all of me
and if you're gonna leave me
you gotta leave all of me
right there I coulda sworn
I saw you fly out the window
over the balustrade, your feathers
left all over the couch
takes a dream to stream all the rivers
of bad luck and the grief
stretching our limbs out in the water
but i can't for the life of me
these greenstick, grief stricken lies
keep me awake for night
that you somehow had the brief
patience to handle a fraction
of me and I don't blame you at all

A
flash from beneath the christmas tree
like a person diving in the water
truncated by a fluffy tail, a blur of reality
a ball of fur as fast as lightning
thumping up the stairs
then back down
then back up
then back down