Everyone has someone

they are haunted by, empty

eyes staring into the middle distance

of what might have been

what never was.  Loss

adds up to something

left behind.

 

A former lover

sends me a message via e-mail,

a throw-away, an aside

apologizing for what

might have been.  He’s getting

married.  A beautiful blonde

with long shining hair, both ready

to jump.  In the photo she is loaded down

with all her gear; her smiling face reflecting

no fear, thumbs up.

They are up in the air, their past lives

roaring behind them,

ready to leap.

 

 

23 years

ago.  Someone slicing

me open.  You, red-faced

and screaming, dark hair,

eyes tiny slits, still blind.

Me, sitting on the edge

you suckling.  I remember

thinking, I am tired of this, already

moving away. Your father

in the background, easy to be

patient.  One day, he said,

you will miss

this moment.  23 years

later, you

far away,

I do.