Stillborn

Although science, with clinical wisdom
declared her not yet a person,
a heartbeat argued defiantly
for a night.

We visit the cemetery —
hands entwined, minds
in different hemispheres,
hearts mangled.

In a quiet corner
where the sun lingers late in summer,
where gelid moans soften in winter,
we become broken pieces

of something once much stronger.

Ryan Stone

First published by Red River Review, August 2017