That night as they cradled each other in the dim orange light
There were new lines carved deep between his eyes that she’d never seen
His face was an oak gashed with initials wrapped in little hearts and bleeding from question marks
She could tell those lines were scrawled by careless, unfeeling hands and she traced them with weary eyes
She covered each scar tenderly with her hands
She wanted to erase every “was here” and every love
She wrapped her arms around him, put her cheek to his roughness
and mourned life’s permanent impermanence
