I saw him off on the train.
We hugged and cried.
His mates were there too
to wave him goodbye.
We were fools, they said
to our tears; we should stop
this nonsense. But we knew
it was too wrong to make right.
Well he always wanted
to go live in Sydney. And I
wanted peace, I suppose,
and also passion. And truth.
We got those things
but not with each other.
Still, we didn’t begin
with intention to stop.
And so we wept to separate.
Next time I saw him,
eighteen months later,
was in the divorce court.
After it was done, we had coffee,
he and I and the man who would be
my next husband. Then he walked away
without looking back, and left us.
without looking back, and left us.
31 Poems in 31 Days (from Poewar / Writer's Resource Center). Prompt: Change of Mind
Wow you wrote a whole memoir in a short poem, or was it a novel.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a short story, Connie. It turned out to be a very brief marriage!
DeleteWow, I really felt this scene, I could see it all so clearly.
ReplyDeleteStill vivid for me after 49 years!
DeleteYes. It is never the intention to separate and divorce, and wedding vows are moving. Recognizing it's over doesn't mean no tears.
ReplyDeleteSo many hopes and dreams as one enters into it!
DeleteSuch emotion in this - "we didn't begin with intention to stop"
ReplyDeleteI don't regret the decision, though. Continuing would have been a disaster.
Delete