How long does it take
for a heart to no longer feel?
For the blood to coagulate
and harden?
How long does it take
for the heart to beat against itself-
its soft tissue slapping a relic
of an unfortunate past,
a pulse with no flow,
alive yet dead,
pounding on the door of an empty house?
There is no one home.
After forty-six years
its tenant has left.
