there she sits behind the trees
alone
with her book and the leaves
just like me
they fall to her with
the rain
but i won’t
though i know she is my soulmate
                                        like all the others

she coughs and i wish i could be the air
stale in her eyes, in her lungs
beneath her ribs where it’s soft
                                        she is me
                                        i am her
watching that flowing sun
ripple on its surface
cowering at the sky’s laughter

she is my soulmate
the sky chuckles and says

               *“aren’t they all?”