Partings (1995)

I watch you, a silent figure, as you walk alone into the distance.
Your outline is blurred, I know not whether by my tears or by the rain.
It is autumn. Leaves fall all around you as you walk on, oblivious
To the death of a year, a relationship, the start of another round of pain.

I stare into the mirror and see swollen, tear-stained desperation.
Prosaic realism: so different from the reflection as I stared into your eyes.
My vision mists over, I imagine I see you standing beside me, smiling,
I blink, the image vanishes, I curse myself for believing my mind's enticing lies.

Oh, to return now to the naivety of that first innocent encounter;
Halcyon days, a time with your infectious joy forever by my side.
The memories of long-gone happiness suffocate and choke me now.
I wallow in my loss, curtains drawn against the world whilst I hide.

Futile now to express frustration, resentment, anger at this ending.
Life leads inexorably along a path from ecstasy to despair.
Craving acceptance, love and worship, I seek to start afresh;
Behind me strewn the waste of loves lost and friendships past repair.