Goodbye. The sharp heat of the word
Stings my waiting lips.
The loud silence of the turned back
Rings in my searching mind.
The dreadful still in the space once occupied.
This empty heart. These empty arms.
Ridiculous I may be but
I am surprised to discover
Goodbye, excruiating and cruel,
Is so common as to be mundane.
Like speech or step, well-practiced,
Universally enacted.
Again and again we say
Goodbye to one another.
Again and again we
Part from one another
In body or in spirit,
Deserters and abandoners, all.
How did I not know this?
How am I so unprepared?
So long I have practiced my hello.
So long I have widened
The space in my heart, the breadth of my arms.
I have no talent for goodbye.
Though I am not anxious to learn
This painful art of goodbye
We, none of us, escape
So, I will learn my lesson well
In the hope that there will be
No need for further practice.
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