Leaving 2.0

[rhia_starsong]

Man, I meant to put this up about two years ago.  Oops?

Final version.

Leaving
I have never been able to leave when it matters--
--not you; not you, and never this place.

I stood dying in place my whole life,
stood behind you for all these years
     (I) stood behind the cracked counter in that
          smoky bar
     catching tips and possessive leers
     (I) stood behind the weathered, grey drying line
          full of your
     undershirts and my dustrags
and then when I sprinted after you,
all the while thinking I was leading in this race of
Cartesian proportions,
I learned that our years contained only me,
and that you
have always stood outside them, outside us.

So now here you are, falling
away from me again:
I falter, stand staring at your finely-
chiselled name,
And I want to ask you for the years
back, but I don't know how.