Artifactual

When a relationship dies, what happens to the orphaned plus sign? Might it live on as a cemetery cross marking some otherwise dubious grave? At one time it could’ve been reborn as a TV antenna mast or the minimal skeleton of a scarecrow. Now even crossroads seem archaic, & a crucifix is a piece of jewelry to finger in times of stress, finger & twirl on its chain around the neck — a thing humans wear instead of a bell. In extreme cases, the plus sign can lose its vertical axis & merge with the horizon, beyond which, as we know, there’s nothing but subtraction.