Once in your Lifetime

I brought you flowers one day.
Small and fragile they were,
But a scent as luscious
As the locks upon your head
Diffused from their lips
As each one whispered to you
The secret of my cares.
Every crease upon my brow
That developed in your absence
Disappeared when you were near.
Every tendon spasmed
As your gaze pierced my bone.
But my cares you did not guard,
And their petals began to fall
Until you threw them all away.

And then, you saw I had been brave
When, years later,
You reflected on my sacrifice,
The open-wound
I faced to the sky where you stood,
Supremely distant.
Offering no balm,
You had showered acid rain,
And the rain from your memories
Turned into tears trickling down
The creased brow upon
Your trodden face.
And this time, you brought me flowers—
But you laid them on my grave.