Au nom de l'amour

What is Dead Cannot Be

What is Dead Cannot Be (from 'Destinations')

after Gapi Zabala's 'Know Thy Self'

Maria Criselda R. Santos

What is dead cannot be brought to life

unless you are God –

deus ex machina does not work

in this alternate reality.

There is a method to dying: leaves

turn to brown, crisp to the touch,

fragile and about to fall

at the mere sound of your breath.

Hearts are no different.

First, the familiar beat near the center

of your chest. The cacophony as it pumps blood

to your veins is music and all that there is.

Next, the quickening beat of love, all madness

and push and pull. A tug of war

that exhausts the mind and the body. Yet

the heart survives

for a few more seconds.

Its beat becomes slow,

faint, like the flickering flame

of a candle about to be extinguished. You know –

it is time.

The heart constricts, shrivels up –

ventricles and veins diminutive,

embers eating away what is left.

The body, now hollow, cannot respond.

Instead: you disappear

little by little – no trace of you

but ashes.