For a minute or more, I was dead as you,
as you were technically dead
before the end was absolute—
before your brain conceded.
For a minute or more, my world was edged in blossoming dark,
engrossing, on the cusp of consent.
Blackbirds congregated, chattered ‘round my head, and
they called dibs on my vital organs—
heart, liver, kidneys, and lungs.
One expressed explicit interest in
my spleen—
keen student of human anatomy,
morbid corvid.
Then a cardinal came with your breath on its wings,
and I breathed.
I just breathed.
I breathe still…