where your body was

That's the sound of a door slamming closed so suddenly
(I can't quite hear it)
The dark corners I say goodbye to, with all your hidden faces
(I can't quite see)
And all the words spoken and unspoken, lies and truth
(I don't really know)

This, which isn't a poem: it's an empty space
(where your body was)

This, which wasn't love: it's a story with a beginning
(no middle, just an end)

This, which isn't anger: it's a clean break, fast burn
(you weren't mine, after all)

Though I wish you'd come back but briefly
While the summer heat lingers

Everything I wanted and everything you did:
things disappear so easily, they don't quite arrive
(before they're gone) who knows where
You said you liked to travel, so I'd known you'd go
But I thought you'd warn me, and I could ask you

That last question I'm burning for
(to hear your silence)
Give you that last kiss before parting
(our fingertips would linger)
Say your name into your skin, that one time
(that only time)

You kissed so well: up and down tempo
I thought it didn't matter, the melody
was ours, so lyrics were extra.

What a strange, brief sweetness
Enveloped by your bitterness before it suffocates,
and falls, the fool's game once again, and I'm surprised
but I'd wish you well, and you'd ever be the gentleman,
So you wouldn't mention love

And I'd spare you the indignity of asking
Uncomfortable questions or waiting
For things that will never return.