and with reckless abandon, he threw his arms around her

inhaling her all too familiar scent of roses and wood.

he told her, "i'll love you till the day i die"

burying her head in the crook of his neck, 

she breathed deeply, and whispered

barely above the sigh of the wind, "i love you today",

before holding his hand in an icy grip over the side of the bed

the machines beeping as he stroked the needles in her arm

she closed her eyes.