Just tell me how
How many times how
Many tries how many
Fights and how many
Apologies and how how
Often must we forgive
Please tell me how
Many wrecked vacations how
Many disappointing holidays how
Many separations and how
How how how have
We allowed us to
Get here how how
Can we look at
Each other with nothing
To say how do
We finally accept that
All of the how’s
Have ended here now
And with each season
Comes it’s own surprises
Awake aware abandon acquiesce
Bud blossom befall bedtime
Curious crave collapse close
Dawn desire descend die
On through the alphabet
No matter the season
Whether it be love
Or life or time
The seasons always march
To an invisible drum
Heard by no one
Yet felt by all
You can’t cage a
Bird that wishes to
Fly first you’ll break
Its heart then you’ll
Crush its spirit and
Finally it’ll stop singing
Every time that door
Opens it’ll try to
Flee until at last
It doesn’t becoming far
Less than what it
Was to both you
And mostly to it
It seems to me
That the ends of
Things either go out
With bang or sizzle
Either a shot or
A sip either a
Boom or a fizzle
Either an ahh or
An oh I guess
That most things end
After other things do
Affection or money or
Time or even patience
I do wish though
That relationships were more
Like clothes when something
No longer fits it’s
Blatantly obvious it doesn’t
My admission of failure
And my subsequent retreat
Marks my new beginning
And not my loss
In love and war
No battles are won
Casualties are often many
And at some point
It’s best to admit
My friend or foe
We have done enough
Damage to each other
It’s time to heal
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 