I dared to lick the stars from your face

That September evening, caught in the throes

Of a downward spiral, coming from a place

I once thought could go no deeper

Or last any longer, but the bottom

Fell out from under me, and I dug

My fingers into nothing, for there was

Nothing left to break my fall, except

The briefest taste of stars, your stars

That once gone, left only a blackened face

To watch my decent, as your illumination

Suffered a cold death inside my failing mouth