The day I said goodbye to the man

I once thought I could not live without

The silver Georgia sky was dense

With murky pregnant clouds

And the fresh scent of an emergent rain

Infused the air all around

We sat only inches apart on the wrap-around porch

Of the house we’d chosen with forever in mind,

A place where we’d found that love was not kind

And that sadly forever was not in our design

No words were exchanged, only anxious glances

Thoughts raced like freight cars as we pondered our chances

Regretting our betrayals and sordid romances

And how we’d filled coarse silences with vile word dances

But no peep was uttered, we simply watched the road

Waiting in a hush for the showers to show

Watching for the cab that was quickly on its way

Hoping the other would speak the words we wished they’d say

But too, too much had already been said, and we surely had held no punches

Cursing and hateful accusations based on silly hunches

Our cruel and deliberate deprivations of basic love and affection

And vengeful spoken daggers had severed our connection

Broken by bullying and manipulations

We decided our future based on minute intimations

And acceded long ago that the damage had been done

And in our war of the roses, neither of us had won

So as we lingered on the cool grey stoop

The wind whipping us around like a vane

We remained stoic and staunchly composed

Futilely masking our pain

And as that gold Taxi rounded the bend

I could hear my pulse quicken in my ears

And when he grabbed his bags and hesitantly rose

I turned away to veil my tears

He looked at me with a half-hearted smile

And attempted a last read of my face

But the story of us; books one, two, and three

Had obstructed the entrance to that place

I watched him turn and walk slowly down

Four steps and across our long path

I whispered goodbye to our once upon a time

And the years that had passed by so fast

He never looked back as he loaded the taxi

And then inside before being driven away

And as the cool rain began to mix with my tears

I finally found the right words to say…