you did not give me flowers,
but I smelled them anyway

bit their stems
and then I tossed them away
down, down, they reeked

into the valve that is my head
the body, capable

they are in the body that
you left –
quickly, too, you did not rot

you looked beautiful
when you left, jumped straight

out of my heart

in the projective sort of way
we are accustomed to

loving each other and leaving
too. you did not give me
flowers but you would have

if you stayed.