Untitled Love, by Faith M. Deruelle

Untitled, by Zdzisław Beksiński (Poland). 1984. (copyrights inherited by Muzeum Historyczne w Sanoku) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

Untitled Love

The two of them died in the war, but their bodies
remained, entwined in each other’s limbs
causing them to become a statue of molten skin,
pressed tightly together and clenching open palms
to bare backs, locked in an embrace that can’t
be unbound, one continuous creature
unable to be ripped apart,
each trying to shield the other from the doom
lurking behind eyes closed tightly
because what you can’t see can’t hurt you
and life will be okay, but they perished with their naïve ideal
of hugs curing any harm that comes their way,
their arms scrambling to latch onto any part
they could wrap themselves around, bones protruding
from the translucent surface stretched loosely over
every angle of the two headed being with its four
legs crossed within itself, tightening the core
of the beast, digging claws into the shoulders
of its counterpart, toes thrust into the ground,
their last effort at rooting themselves
before the burst of light from the distance
swept them away in its radiant gaze,
and tears trekked down their faces, trusting the caress
to withstand the tenacious winds lamenting towards them,
this was their last exhale before they were damned to this ground.

Faith M. Deruelle

Faith M. Deruelle lives in Brooklyn with her one cat and one fish. She was born in Florida, and attended Florida State University where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing and Environmental Science. Faith is in a Master of Fine Arts program at The New School in New York.