long after the paint
has divorced itself

from the walls
and the dust has eloped with the air

still playful as an infant
with the intruder’s flashlight beams

long slender shafts reveal the shadows
of old lover’s quarrels
that left them peeling away

footsteps that don’t belong
crush the decrepit carcasses
and skeletons of the beds and blurry mirrors

Windows estranged from the cheating wood
who cavorted with the long abandoning paint
have run away to join the old red bricks

languishing in the perpetual growth of the untended green blades
this break up has left them wanting

clouded

looking for purpose
where once all was clear as the sunlight down the midday painted hallways.

like the bricks miss mortar
windows miss their frames

but the walls don’t feel smothered any longer
and the dust and air are starcrossed no more

the flashlights and the heavy filtered breathing

of
these lovers of decay
divorce their feet from the dreck
of this love-torn edifice

making love to memories