You once thought death would save you

You once thought death would save you
As a thousand prayers reconcile into one
And the rattling breaths of the old man
Shake in the bed of the child unborn.

Her dresses stand still in the closet
And her presence hangs still in perfume.
The dog's bed is unmade in the corner
And the cat will not enter the room.

Come walk with me down to the garden
Where she watered the bones of our love,
Where the silence of her unsaying
Was traced in the dead leaves' dust.

Her hair is like the moss in the river,
A red ribbon in the red robin's nest.
Where is the life you have lost in the living?
Where is the love you have lost in her death?