we plucked the petals from the shadows. we sipped the arsenic from passion's blood.
the toad said its name. and i tried to remember. the road bent and i ignored the signs. the box opened. we looked inside. to find the empty's fist strangling us.
our bodies bent and choked against the conundrum of how. plastic soldiers and paper parachutes spitting into the wind. expired wars still dropping explosives on the dead..
monsters in fading nightgowns. negotiating with lingering ghosts.
we approached the edge. with empty pockets.
we didn't have to pay.
we'd long ago settled those debts.