This is the End

This is the End

This is the end we never saw coming

Our compass fixed on some sure point,

due north, ever true

You left before the first frost,

heavy with your own distraction,

unable to bear the weight of another season

We did not see the growing storm

or the way the branches, bending,

heavy from the ice,

were breaking.

One by one.

You could not see this heart

bearing its own darkness

A burden you could not carry

You did not know

[or think to ask]

all that I could not tell you

The secrets kept, even from my self

All the fears & forebodings

that refused confession

Bearing up for the both of us

the lost & dying

I carried yours & mine

I left you, friend

with the hymns of our youth,

memory your shroud

Our burial clothe

for all that was lost

I could no longer bear your brokenness

and you never saw mine

~Brangwynne Purcell

mixed media, found book, gold leaf, paper, victorian scrap, thread, paper ephemera

9.5 cm x 14 cm

15 pages