A rose garden filled with a sweet aroma.
“Bury me there,” she said.
Cracked lips pursed, she stared at me.
Dawn was creeping up the sky.
Everything felt frozen in suspension;
Falling in a paused state.
Gently, she brushed her lips against my fingers.
Her gaze was as sharp as ever when she glanced back up.
I couldn’t look away, so she saw my guilty expression.
“Just humor me, okay?” she pleaded.
“Kiss me and tell me you’ll bury me there.”
Lungs rasping, shriveling underneath her ribcage.
My mouth met hers, though I feared I would break her.
No one interrupted our mourning but the rising sun.
Outside, the world continued to wake.
Pressing with urgency, she moved her lips against mine.
Questionable, that they’d let me bury her there.
Roses lie atop of bodies, not grow above them.
She pulled away and stared at me, head-on.
“Tell me you’ll bury me there.”
Unshed tears welled in my heart.
Very slowly, I nodded.
We lay together as her breathing disappeared.
X-rays will say she drowned in herself.
Yellow sunlight fell onto her face, staining her cheek.
Zephirines outside her window turned to us, confusion in their

curled petals.