One
Three familiar faces gather, plus a less familiar one
Six months away for school but back to stay
Four food orders eaten, one long game to play
It started in the booths and ended in the bed
Of a truck that despite some rust was painted red
The wind of the end of May sleepily passing
As midnight rolled by around them without notice
Sitting diagonally, not exchanging many words
Two sets of eyes chanced various meetings
Quickly locking, noting, fleeting, no dare of believing
Neither were aware of what lied ahead; so instead
They sat, cards in hand, secrets in head, in the truck bed
Two
They sat, hearts in hand, pieces scraping skin, in the sedan
The journey behind them had been blustery but beautiful
While the stretch ahead would be choppy as ever
The ship they had built, filled with endearment and hope,
Propelled by mutual encouragement, their kind of “perfect”
Held an irreparable tear they failingly tried to patch up
Like swimming in quicksand, the tear stood its ground
A distressing week lead up to the inevitable truth:
it was time to jump ship, swim to the shore of friendship
Three
Gathered again around a table were the faces of four
Ever familiar by now, each with the other closer than before
The two sets of eyes still glanced at one another
Less equally, frequently, and with a new sense of meeting
At the shore of friendship they’d managed to remain
Made it out of the ocean though only one unscathed
The other was a different story, still wandering out to the buoy
Lost in what once was, longing for that ship to roam the sea
For the hull to be renewed, sails pulled up high
Needing to look up and see the other missing set of eyes
Four
The other looked up, across, then all around
But the missing set of eyes was nowhere to be found
The other slowly realized the road in front was as clear
As the material that made up the body of the hourglass
That held the numbered grains of love that had passed
The missing set of eyes was gone and would not return
No rhyme or reason stated; cut off all communication
Here today gone tomorrow, so the idiom fairly stated
“If you love them, let them go” is easier said than done
Yet a life without the other set of eyes had just begun
Five
In a four-door of a different color, the other sat
Mind anew, goals in view, and heart in tact
Venturing home to another threshold and bed
A life without the other set of eyes well in motion
And though at times, the mind would descend
Into the rearview mirror of the past
Seeing the missing set of eyes, the face
That held such a big place in the other’s heart
But in this time apart, it had become apparent
Grateful for the increased strength, love, and lessons
It was without question now a lucid discovery
The other had been too incoherent to see
How different the two sets of eyes would grow to be