Say I was faithful.
Say I was clever enough
to hold a rock
watered on all sides
to benefit your name.
Say I knew your faith
rested between your legs.
Say your tears wet your cheeks
like any child’s.
Say among men, you thought
of me.
Say I am a liar.
Say I was faithful,
The only option
for a woman bound to a man
wily as you.
My tears burned
like wax down the night candle.
Among women, I thought
many things not you.
There are battles and battles.
Say the killing kind carries
more import.
Say monsters make the better myth.
I was faithful
to my chance of immortality.
The weeping wife who survives.
Say I proved my need of you.
You would not be wrong.
Your name lost served me better.
Say I am a liar.
I was clever enough
to craft decades to my advantage.
The indefinite wait gave more
worth than the return.
ZYZZYVA, No. 118, 2020