For Paul (musicless song to a former mortal)

part 1

I never opened that box.

even when I knew for sure.

part 2

at first you were a machine,

and the cogs meshed

but the snapped crankshaft could not sustain the necessary processes.

and then you were an animal,

and evolution is proven by tragedy.

and then you were a case study,

and I called you “subject 3”

because I had seen this before

and I told myself I understood.

and then you were a shade,

somebody else’s mind

transposed onto my own;

a ghost of a memory of a photograph.

and then you were my muse,

and I danced around you with a disposable arsenal of

fresh flowers and brooding contempt;

I made you immortal.

and then suddenly you were a man.

and then suddenly you weren’t.

but yeah,

I totally got over it.