here is a new version of you
saved for a single, untroublesome moment
as your planned surprise attack hit its mark
with the ease and precision of
a learned practice…
i staggered beneath the gaze
blindsided by a swift and startling introduction
to your black-coated stranger with hooded eye
who replaced the heart of you
and cracked against me
like a coiled whip..
what currents sailed you west again
i must wonder
is the silence of a once ringing telephone
or the empty chairs placed at
a once- abundant table
surrounded by family and friend
quieted now
as the result of your ease
in walking away?
is your heart, once filled with friendships running fire hot
this easily dismissive
cracked and seared by a surprising icy cold?
does your odd, gentle hand
hold your secrets of an ease
in discarding humans at every turn
unforgiving
or unable to resolve misunderstandings?
or do you wait in silence
for the other, always, the other
apology to come first
or is there a twisted satisfaction
in demanding a begging soul’s
plea for forgiveness
deserved or not…
my shoulders are tired, bruised
from carrying the burden of explanation
the weight of excuses for my daily bread’s
rhyme or reason
my fresh, tender wounds gave you
the last blood i could spare
from a week’s worth of lashings
and you, who have smashed
the only extended olive branch
i could muster
responded in kind
with a mighty silence…
teaching me hard
painful lessons
in the sad, unfathomable
art of walking
away..