when darkness fell at last

the stars fell too

descending from heaven like so many glistening eyes

the gospel told us we would ascend to heaven

but the truth was contradictory

the heavens came to us

on that freezing cold night in late November

with our breath like dragons, our hands clammy despite the loss of feeling

we stood surrounded by countless burning candles

a brightness that blocked out even the imposing neon of the all night store

each star fizzed as it fell to the floor

leaving nothing but silence in the night sky

for what seemed like an hour

but was probably just a few seconds

we watched as the stars piled up around us

like drifts of snow

until we were knee deep in light and purity

then you laughed as the stars swept you off your feet

you floated through the air, borne on a sea of eternal nuclei

i was raised then too

carried along like a crowdsurfer

and i remember the noise

there was a tone

if i had to recall it now

i would simply say

it sounded like one, long, drawn out e

sung by a thousand choirboys

it was beauty immemorial

then you were gone

i was left in the parking lot

surrounded by dying stars and acid rain

the note had turned sour

from a thing of wonder to a thing of revulsion

the sound of retching and weeping

and i lay on my bed

cold sweat dripping through the sheet

you were in the toilet

ejecting everything we had seen

everything we had witnessed together

to be the last left on earth

floating among the stars