Partings

Isn’t this a pretty shell
On my bracelet?
She said, as we stood close,
Saying goodbye.
Tears were rising
For both of us.
Only a temporary parting.
But months together,
Shared kindnesses,
Given kisses,
Slow, gentle, intimacy,
With unwrapped words,
Had joined us
In the subtle parts
That feelings signal.
Weeks of ordinary things
Done with each other,
Without friction,
With play and laughter,
Had married us.
And that bond
Robbed parting
Of real pain.
But partings
Can make such ruin
Of the structures
We build of self,
That only years mend,
Or soften the stark
Outlines of destruction.
The links that
Decades spent together
Build and shape,
Do not part easily.
Lava sometimes flows
From the deep rents,
Burning and hurting,
Exploding onto others.
Or else collapse.
Breakdown of the fabric
That make us who we are.

Tony Crisp

Copyright ©2002 Tony Crisp