i waved goodbye to her for the last time this morning.

i waited all night for her to wake. she was brighter than normal, and smiled through contagious yawns.

i felt sadder than i thought i’d be. after all these early mornings practising what i’d say, again and again, round and round, like her eternal beauty.

though now i was a coward. i turned from her, peeling away like unloved bodies from one another.

i’d neglected her. something she’d never imagine. she always woke with me, and fell asleep next to me. sometimes she’d fall asleep first, and i’d watch this new side of her that awoke. i felt like she were mine. that she was placed here to provide me with light. night and day.

but now my age had met up with me. a catch-22. where mortality is too short, yet immortality far too lonesome and bleak. but she never showed this. today, she were as bright as ever.

i felt her hand warm my back. she pulled me towards her. her hand now on my chest. i felt her throughout me.

my fingers, tingling.

my toes, electric.

i felt like a fireplace providing a frost-bitten victim life.

i knew it was my time. we had had our years together. watching her sunrise and sunsets. colours of orange, yellow, pink and blue.

i waved goodbye to the sun for the last time this morning.

the tangerine sun in a Turner sky.

and she waved back.