The One You Left Behind

A Poem

Photo by Anna Nekrashevich from Pexels

passion

played a role in the way

you discarded me like old papers,

crumpled and thrown in the wastebasket,

the remnants of time left forgotten

love

became an obligation of a kind

as you doled out your time

like you were granting genie wishes

to the poor beggar — namely me

silence

ballooned in the moments we shared,

each less precious than the last,

as we became strangers in loops

of our own sad cosmic making

kisses

started to be twined with boredom,

our mouths knowing the wrong answers

even while neither of us admitted

the wrong was all just us

dates

were lukewarm meals in the kitchen

as we drank too much wine

from smudged glasses in sweaty palms —

acts we could no longer improvise

choices —