The Dead Husband, Robert.

Maria's husband died.
She had been away at the time, and bore the news with dignity
She took his old clothes and stacked them on her bed
So pulled together, so sure
But found herself toppled over like a broken chimney
Weary, heavy, sobbing into folded shirts and pleated pants

But Maria, having felt abandoned by her husband long before he died,
Had already taken a lover
And swept with tears and solemn promises, he absorbed her grief
With paper towels and bathroom tissues
And waited patiently for them to return to their trysts
Debating, quietly and in a small, hidden part of his head
Whether their love would still be so vibrant and bruising
Now that Maria was no longer married.
He decided he would wait and see.

And one day, while falling to pieces over a trinket
Her husband came home.
He entered the door he had left
(She did not notice at first)
And asked her about her day, complained about the July heat
She dropped everything- trinket, jaw, body
And fainted to the floor

He was still there when she came to.
After much deliberation and discussion,
They determined he was real, he was staying, and he was wondering why
his clothes were piled in the corner on the ottoman
(She had moved them there; one can sleep in their bed with a memorial of
clothing for only so long)
They also determined that he found it impossible to leave their house
Having forgotten what the outside world was like.

So Maria and Robert (that was his name)
Built a little system together in their home, a system where Maria was
the center of the universe and Robert revolved around her
She often called him "zombie husband" when they grew comfortable
enough to joke about it
And she stopped calling her lover
Who found the story of a dead Robert living with her a challenge and
an opportunity
And sat patiently outside her apartment with flowers (roses, because
although lillies were her favorite, he did not care to remind her of
her dead husband who was probably, he reckoned, inside and mocking
him)

Maria and Robert grew closer still and her lover met a nice girl
(Her name was Cindy, and she walked her dog at 6:30 every night and
one evening, the roses were for her)
And more and more, Maria stayed in
Choosing to leave her home infrequently
Because why go out to dinner and a movie when they could always watch a movie on tv or make a nice meal together
She was his world, and she was giddy with importance and necessity
Found herself guilty of quietly needing him just as much
And more and more, Maria found herself falling in love for the first time
Falling in love with need, falling in love with loneliness,
Falling in love with the dead husband in her apartment