So Much For Endings

by Haley Bartholomew

Fall in love, and eventually, in well.
Life, worthwhile together, and challenge.
Ten years they spent together, trying.
End of story.

Last summer I wrote last year.
Love, merely tepid.
Fresh lipstick doesn’t take.
Weakness is not enough.
She’s dying.

Run-down, she can’t stop.
Remembering nineteen.
She leaves, and fails.
She, glinting in the distance, a juniper limb.

Cool air, moving in freedom sheets.
Contrary is being free.
Freedom isn’t.
Languorous may be summer.

Charming, a commitment is a commitment.
Underwater, entwined with despair.
Seashore, virtuous and grateful,  guilty and confused.
Was I ever going to get over this?

 

Notes
Poetry
Published in Windfall Vol. 32
All rights reserved

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