Three hours of me frozen as each student chisels stone
carving each lithe limb as I limn this world and that,
existing after all for the count.
When I am long dead
these statues will stand where I once stood –
me in all vulnerability, bathed in the city’s night light.
Dead, I’ll be quiet as  stone Madonna.

Will you kneel before me, knees red-raw and keep your silent vigil.
Will you whisper those things you never said when I was I.
Surely my death would allow license –
a break from your oh-so-sacred oath.
How many candles would you light?
One for me and one for you or the two – could never be.
A loss in life I felt so acute.
As me heart gives out now,
as yours beats blithely on.