Picture Credit: Author

when you said no, I no longer existed

before I was culled

cradle words on your tongue
a baby is an event waiting to happen
your face took the shape of a
disappointed god
I was not enough, my
sacrifices fell short

three things before you
told me to go:

i
I folded myself
into small forms of
my flaws, just enough
to hear you say yes

ii
you became everything
and I was a speck in the universe,
a dot waiting at the end of your words

iii
then I faded into silence
in worship of a god
that demands a soldier’s obeisance
because I should not question
the human that holds my life
in their hands

after I was culled

(the words of God created the earth)
when you said no,
I no longer existed