Splinter

The denouement was
a dream; extinct now.
The dream inspired
disaster; I’ll explain how.

She was the Eve
to my Adam in Eden
reclaimed.

And I the apple
to her taste, forbidden,
unclaimed.

Like fire we came
to touch;
and fire that burnt
as much.

We loved to smoke
and smolder;
and stoked the flame,
turned bolder.

And in that furnace
a dream was forged;
two hearts in ardor
thus engorged.

We vowed to live
as hellfire, never still;
and fueled, the flame
maddened with our will.

Till all that was left
was cinder;
and all I could do
was hinder.

It was done;
the ash said it loud.
The fire of our pride
Had consumed us, proud.

Grace was now
An impossible crest;
And the apple, now bitten,
A ruined test.

So I let her go
with the apple stuck
in the scalded way
of her breathing, strained.

And I was left
with the apple's twig-
a splinter driven through
my soul, seething, maimed.