in this world -

juliet poisons the city
with the ashes of her ancestors
and burns romeo's bones.
the feud is ended because
no one is left to carry it on.

desdemona drowns iago
under the willow tree.
they say there's a nymph here,
one with madness in her bones,
and when iago stops breathing
desdemona does not leave.

ophelia, the nymph says.

juliet watches them,
floating in their shadows,
and holds out for a sunset
before she jumps.

(they tell stories of three nymphs
underneath a willow tree.
the nymphs do not mind
that no one remembers their names.)