my breath does not catch
in my throat, my words
do not fail me nor leave me mute
staring, embracing you with my eyes, my heart, my mind.

you seem a stranger to me
no longer a beautiful creature
held in such high regard
as to leave me speechless
every time I breathed your air.

the affection I once held out to you
you swallowed then spat back out
only to devour it again, reveling
in that bitter seed you sowed in me.

but now
I turn my eyes to you
and feel not a single thing
a glance causes no spark
a word, a touch—no butterflies.

your presence does not summon
any forms of love in me
beyond the faint, far-reaching
echoes of a colorless memory.