pale

I remember  
Aqualung  
coughing over the engine,
scared  
but with him
and so still sublime.

A shiver of its own, that morning -  
my absolute darling,
my favorite voice
just a little stuck,
 
his teeth all clenched
more and more  
as the turn was missed.
Top down on the mini coop
and I still think
I heard his jaw creak. He
didn't seem to notice.
 
Dealer at the station.
She passed up on a ridearound
and just slid it to him in a cigarette box.
I couldn't talk. My darling
and his last fix,
my favorite knuckles
all crystalline things,
little ghosts on his steering wheel, exhausted,
groaning and rattling  
chains close to breaking links
but too tired to actually haunt anything.
 
He is dry now;  
I'm an oasis  
on another planet
trying to mail him  
dopamine.