Before you weren't

On your lips are still those words
You told me when we knew life together
But now the only sound you make
Is a defiant, irregular pip in artificial tones
Pressing itself into the air
Reminding me of your continued struggle
For now.

Synthetic worms burrow into your soft form
Their plasticity is foreign against the frame
Of your still, half nakedness
And the chemicals they pump into you
And the life they draw out of you
You shall never know.

The clean sheets hold you so tightly
But give you no comfort
You don't feel warmth anymore
They serve only to preserve your humanity
To give me hope.

And though I still hope after you
That your mind will find itself
And that your soul will return to us all
I see only death in your face
And rust in your veins.

Inside myself, I lose everything I knew
My loves, hung securely in my heart
Like graffiti on a high wall
Are now blackened and invisible to me
I am more dead than you
I am sure.

And in this dark place of
Exhausted questions and shallow breathing
I know that when silence makes your bed
And the person I love is torn from your corpse
You shall be assured of this:
I think I knew you before you weren't.