losing my petals slowly breathing in blue topaz with the clarity of a freshly severed head watching the last swallow slice through the summer air like butter this sad rose wilting in an empty house for someone who loved to kneel you certainly were quick to take the crown never plucked my petals but didn't mind hanging me out to dry the dust collects a graceful twist of irony as the sadist sweeps up the mess tenderly filling my roots with soil and water breathing colour back into the heaving stem i shouldn't have kept on living but unnaturally, i do exist unraveled, reformed, dethroned