cherishing diminishing joy

they indicated the job was over

when the probing barbs meant to communicate affection penetrated the parts of us still worthy of carve

into a decorative orb or a wilting perennial or a piece of the sky that we never really looked at anymore

and the cold steel of the device responsible for replenishing the boxes that deserved no replenishment and fostered diminishing joy

would provide a reflection of the wound it dug from which became more unfamiliar by the day but it was something to look at

that wasn’t the sculptures in their boxes

those barbs never could communicate the affection they intended with the obscured shapes they molded and the cardboard never bowed

so the job never ended