you used to light
my cigarettes
for me.
and i used to 
call that
chivalry.
i kept them in a
cowboy-covered case—
right here next to
my heart.
we ran around
the west like
the calamity and a cataclysm.
we’d sling our
six-shooters
and saw the sun rise.
we pressed our backs
together
and faced down
the world.
but the first night
we slept under the stars
together 
i awoke to
dying embers
and only my
bedroll on the ground.