The Parting of Ways

Dusk signifies a beginning and an end
The sun inches closer to its next destination
Before long it will disappear behind the mountain
And I will be left wondering what it does on the other side
Does it close its eyes and give in to sleep
The way you did after I said good night?
Or does it wait to catch its breath
The way I did when you say goodbye?

I told you I’m scared of partings
The first bitter taste never really left my mouth
It was the morning after the storm
When my joyous shout of Casper’s name
Ended in hysterical tears
There he lay in the puddle on our front yard
Stiff and unmoving, deep in eternal sleep
I will never hear him bark again

Later I promised myself I will never love anyone
The way I loved the riverbank of my childhood
The sole witness to endless summer frolics
Of leaping headlong into the stream and emerging with tans
Shaking our heads like dogs, grinning from ear to ear
But then another storm came, and in the morning,
Giant boulders and angry waves washed it all away
And with them our houses and dreams

Another morning, ten years later,
I stood in the kitchen filled with the scent of breakfast
The phone rang in an insistent way when bad news call
I knew even before my world crumbled it was a different kind of storm
It raged from the inside, a billowing, hurtling ball of grief
Something gripped my heart, something was lodged in my throat
And the echo of your name rumbled from the distance
While I dissolved into an inconsolable mess on the tiled floor

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