The body and social facade
The body and social facade glide
Through daily appearances of life
Feigning interest in passing perceptions
That only entice when exciting recollections of you.
Temptations to idolize your image
Must constantly be tempered by sober memories
Of the anguish you say I have caused
By not loving you adequately when you were here.
The sense of loss is not quite so oppressive
And I can wish you well and mean it
Regardless of your final verdict on me
As the man who loves you deeply even if not enough
The divorce is not the finishing blow
I first felt it to be
But rather a final shedding of unwanted ties
which you feel have tainted our love
Till they can no longer be born.
Perhaps later we can be true intimate friends
Embracing in most tender caring
Always respecting the needs of the other
Even when it means living alone.
If you decide our relations entail too much pain