Stop Codons

I was studying in the library today,

When I came across the stop codons.

UAA, UAG, UGA.

Three little acronyms,

For when you want to encode for the end of us,

And the start codon,

One little acronym,

AUG,

For when you want to encode for the start of us.

Dictating the protein synthesis of our mercurial affair.

AUG

The first time I can’t isolate the E. coli of your lips or the salmonella of your hands from the intestines of my body.

Every time you end things, I need an oil change. 

UAA

Every time the condom wrappers in my trash carry more weight than whatever we are.

UAG

Every time the conductor silences the melody of you calling me baby and crescendos you saying we aren’t compatible.

UGA

U

Are

Annoying

The second time it’s a play and you only enter stage right when the understudy Romeo kisses my Juliet.

AUG

Every time it’s a long story my friends no longer care to read.

UAA

Every time you splatter paint all over my white walls and I end up apologizing.

UAG

Every time you say you want to solve me like a puzzle until I realize it’s just a game of Russian roulette. 

UGA

U

Are

Gross

The third time you bring an umbrella but can’t protect me from the thunder that rattles my ears with the rumors of you seeing others. 

AUG

Every time I use my friends like air bags as you crash our getaway car.

UAA

Every time you start to use my dark circles as foreplay instead of your lips and hands.

UAG

Every time the ambulance of our affair rushes into the ER because I haven’t eaten in days.

UGA

U

Go

Away

This time the color in my cheeks return,

As my friends stop needing to perform CPR.

This time the weight scale stops scaring the people around me,

As my family stops needing to hook me up to an IV full of saline drip love.

This time the library greets me like an old friend,

As the surgeon clears me for a craniotomy to remove the tumor that is you.

Because we’re just a sequence of three nucleotides,

And nothing more.

Are

U

Gone?