When Love Rots

She was perturbed
by the strange stench
engulfing the house.
She kept looking
inside the fridge,
outside the garden,
under the bed,
over the oven,
in the vegetables,
in the frozen meat.
But nothing was astray.

Yet the stench remained.
It seemed to come from afar
She followed the fumes
that took her to the lake
where they used to sit,
holding hands for hours,
where they used to walk
with dreamy eyes.
She walked closer –
the lake wasn’t the same,
the waters were black,
and the stench grew stronger
as she kneeled and watched
a dead fish afloat the rotting waters.