Too late to love

An arid desert within my mouth
as i try to speak my words,
but a tumbleweed gets stuck in my throat
and from my cloudy eyes
a raindrop trickles down.

i know what it is i want to say
but my lips are parched and chapped.
so i catch my tear
with an outstretched tongue,
still, my love just chokes on sand.

my tear didn’t taste salty
nor did it quench my thirst,
you’re a cactus in a desolate land
where survival is always first.

i know you have plenty of water
within your camouflaged spikes,
but i’d have to cut you open...
and this i didn’t like.

i wouldn’t hurt you for myself
i’d rather die than to impose,
and when i finally said “i love you”
you had your eyelids closed.

So with a swollen tongue and dried up heart
i used your shade for comfort,
then quietly i died while you slept that night
never knowing how much i loved you.