love is all

A small text from my father tonight,

Was enough to make me cry to the point of hiccuping exhaustion:

 “Life is fleeting.  Love is all.”

Now, in bed,

 I am taking everyone I love

And letting them get shot in the street,

 In my mind,

Until that part of my brain is rubbed raw,

And my chest aches from momentarily believing it’s true.

Sometimes I have to picture everything gone

So I know that it’s there.