I wish I could take your cartridge out

to breathe some life back into you

like a Nintendo 64

but you’re no more.

Human life isn’t powered

by electricity.

If anything

it’s drastic simplicity

the way we just…

time out.

No one force decides.

There are no factors we can override.

We just

stop.

Like the hands on a clock

when the batteries die.

Like you did

in the literal blink

of an eye.

I couldn’t take you

and shake you

like a Polaroid

hoping for a glimpse of life.

I couldn’t unkink your cord

when it was cut

by some mysterious force

who decided it was your time

who didn’t consider

that it was not mine.

There’s no PowerPoint

that can take on an untimely demise –

revive you, like you’re Jesus Christ

through slides.

You aren’t a cassette tape

I can rewind.

You were human

and you died.