Final Grief

The edgeless hole
you left in my childhood
chest awaits.

I beg life. I beg you.
Let me lower
your body into that grave.

Let me shovel dirt
over every lost and never-made
memory of you.

Let me tuck you into earth
with my story,
hide you like a bone.

I’ll lean on my shovel and sob.
Roll out a rectangle of sod.
Lie over you like a dog.

I’ll sit up. Stand like sky.
Walk back into my life,
your living tombstone.