Aftermath

Before the carnage
Before the absence
Before the estranged body
There was a celebration of desire—
a wanting and a touch

Loneliness gathered in a party
Out here: many faces
but without eyes
Out here: many heads
but without names
Out here: many bodies
but without limbs

We think: who’s living, who’s dead

Gently, you offered me a drink,
euphoria in cup, a panacea
And we drank two, then six more
to console our dereliction—
we dissolved onto the bed
and peeled all the layers
Who did not want this feel,
this fill of tenderness?
We were half-mad, half-loved
And only that:

We are half-mad, half-loved
How do we outlive that?

We only know how to mourn the carnage.

This literary piece is part of Katitikan Issue 4: Queer Writing.