Laura Marcoux

how does it all add up
across lifetimes I mean
all the characters we've been
the many people we've loved and betrayed
when we get to November
this great narrowing in

if November was all we knew
we'd be sunsets, me and you
we'd come in glossy and fading
burning so unabashedly bright 
while blissfully resigning 
to the truth of the night

old habits wouldn't die hard
they'd die softly
because in the breadth of November
we'd know we won't last forever
we'd know life is not a grand adventure
it's a breaking apart
and coming back together

from different branches 
we'd meet on the earth
there is no afterlife
there is only underneath
and after birth
when all those good intentions are up for review
and the path to hell always leads me back to you

this is the heart of the story
November says: you can trust in decay
show me your bare chest and I'll show you mine
don't be afraid
we were born this way
full of crumbling desire and alchemical lust
trust me as I devour you
and She devours us

because it doesn't all add up
there is no december
just a cliff at the end of the world
and a jump off
into sweet surrender
there would be no reason to tense up and close
because to die with an open heart
to go out bleeding
that would be all we'd know