bruise
Lilac on skin crushed
purple petals beautiful under the palest amber—
I was falling or the ground rose to me like
a sentence spoken to end a relationship He said to me,
I don’t think I’d want to continue—

When I fell
the ground turned skin to lilac.
I’d left it behind: the broken back step, flickering street lights, the road following
in shades of amber gold. I wanted you back, but we were growing
apart (skin ripening to purple, beautiful petals) the last step - because
I was falling, the ground opened for me until
it snapped my wrist: the hoarfrost, the spider silk like snow
on the dead buds of lilacs