departures

let me leave you

like one would

a building

no turning back

to give it

second glances,

caress the curves

of its arches,

or linger in its doorways

hesitant, longing

let me leave you

like that,

effortlessly –

step out into the light

or the night

at my convenience

let me enter lives

like one enters

a train, coach, plane,

exit just as easily –

sometimes there is

some stumbling,

but one recovers

let me not leave

the way one does

a horrific accident

broken, bleeding,
barely alive
numb, trembling 
and find myself

relating the tale years later

a party trick

the audience, enraptured,

indulging in the sick pleasure

of reliving visceral pain

let me leave you

as I found you,

unthinkingly

serendipitously