Exiled.

climbing vines and faded oriental rugs

a rambling grey house built of stone

reminiscent of a time long gone

but where sprang afresh our new love

late autumn waltzes along the rooftop parapets

you became home to me

swaying under a star-studded sky

you promised you'd never leave

but promises made are broken oft

and your love for me proved untrue

this you expressed on the garden patio

and left -

now, i'm homesick for you.

the two cups of ice sit in their own condensation

like i sit alone in my tears

empty halls reverberate silence

reminding me you're not near

i'm as unraveled and worn as a threadbare tapestry

that's hung in an extra room and forgotten

because the memories you left me with, love,

haunt me when the sky is darkened

the stars don't shine for us anymore

and the chasm cut between our hearts is vast

i'll never nurture any hope that we'll cross it,

any hope that you'd ever turn back

i didn't want that goodbye to be final

even though it was i who held the door

but thoughts of you disintegrate into dust

you, exiled from my heart, forevermore.

written 12 September 2020