Let us begin with the obvious:
Once upon a time, you are in love with him
(You are always in love with him)

You are always in love with him,
So let us accessorize him with the pulse of your still-beating heart
Let him be a worthy end to the means of your death

Means of your death are myriad
(Means of your death are always myriad)
The bomb, the blade, the bullet punctuating life measured in heartbeats

Life measured in heartbeats
Heartbeats counting out the span of his shoulders,
The angle of his jawline when he mouths your name

Your name a woman turned into a whisper,
A prayer, aspiration hissed in the shell of his grieving ear,
Bent toward the cause of his heroism

Heroism has always been his end, as death has always been your means
For you are in love with him
(You are always in love with him)

You are always in love with what you make:
Peasant made paladin, lab rat made metal-skinned man
Woman’s murder made proxy for hero’s ordeal

Hero’s ordeal filtering down the beats of your life to the love of one man
The vessel of one means, the service to one end
Your end, the end:
His once upon a time.

© 2018 by Andrea Tang