When I Leave You
When I leave you,
It won’t be out of anger,
It won’t be out of jealousy.
It won’t be for another woman,
And it won’t be for freedom.
When I leave you,
It won’t be with grace—
It will be hard, hard to do.
I could try to fight it—
But with what power?
Taken quick or slowly,
I’ll still be taken
Out of this world,
Out of your life.
Never out of your heart,
I know—I’m planted there,
A Gibraltar till time’s end.
Yet…yet
I fear for the weight,
The heaviness on you:
All the times you’ll need
A touch, or miss my breath
On the nape of your neck.
When the stars weep,
When songbirds die,
Then, only then
Will my love be left
By your lonely side.
Do I yet know how
Much I love you?
Will my soul chant
In mourning for you?
Will it long for this world
Of night and day only
Because you are still in it?
Nolo Segundo, pen name of L.j. Carber, 76, has had poems published in the past 6 years in almost 150 literary journals in 12 countries; and a trade publisher has released 3 book length collections: The Enormity of Existence [2020]; Of Ether and Earth [2021]; and Soul Songs [2022]. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, he’s a retired English/ESL teacher who has been married 43 years to a smart and beautiful Taiwanese woman.
