...and my life ended
where ours began...

a line so thin a ghost
of a snake danced
under it and
beyond

belly flat against
the floor that's where
I pushed back with
all I had left
a garter snake
(harmless in
fact) and you
slid between
the lines, in and
out of everything
that made me covet
you covered in
something
grim

and now
you sun yourself
on a warm rock
a smile baked on
your face not under
or above me but
in me, the worst
mistake and
I can feel the rope
of you grow taut
wondering how much
of me I had left after
yet another fit of your
reptile rage and slithering
guile

you counted off my lovers
one after the other as if
they all still stood sentry
and none of them worthy
your anger marking that
final part in me, a spot
in that indivisible
number that could
not be pulled
apart

one, me and you
minus me, plied
and pulled from
a spit stained
heart

done and all
undone