Here’s to Nothing

A toast for you.

Photo by Alasdair Elmes on Unsplash

I had a toast for you.

Clean, clinical, concise.

Not even a whisper of a heartbeat in it,

but

Courtesy jolted it into existence.

Three lines —

Why I’m speaking;

(Why am I speaking?)

Who I am in relation to you;

(Who am I to you?)

Where I hope you’ll go;

(Where did we go?)

— three omissions.

I created this linguistic abomination

I saw it try to live —

And then —

I destroyed it.

It could only be a shell at best,

Adding up to nothing.