in the time after the cure (the melancholia of broken hearts)

in the time after the cure (the melancholia of broken hearts)

“Last Disease Cured!” headlines announced

and talking heads began to envision the future

but doctors’ offices and hospitals never became

the vacant wastes of space that everyone envisioned

waiting rooms were flooded day after day, night after night

with the gathering of the incurable scar of melancholia

•

the day after humans finally cured

ever single disease known to humanity

the consequences were stunning

free of sickness humans experienced sloth

of a magnitude before unknown to humanity

the sloth of healthy humans made laziness

in the time of disease seem to be high ambition

yet one obstacle remained robust

no cure existed for the aftermath of a broken heart

that made that sloth seem a minor inconvenience

these pathetic humans wallowed in what could not be

and fell blind to the happiness of other people’s bliss

this cancer no one could touch

in the time after the cure healthy humans discovered

the inevitability of being human in their longings

injury still held promise after no more creeping disease

but nothing else could ever equal the weight of the heart

heavy and hollow when not loved

nothing of course can cover that which can’t be recovered

and loneliness is the hammer no medicine or doctor can treat

in the time after the cure humanity realized mortality was not

the thing that made them human after all—not like love at least