I Need To Stop Waiting – You Don't Love Me Anymore

I’m on my way home.

I send a few texts, and

I expect the normal responses.

I call, leave a message.

Slight resignation, and

I begin to realize –

You don’t love me anymore.

I’m entering an empty house.

Just our two ecstatic dogs,

A missing backpack,

Vest gone, sandals gone.

One or two more texts, and

I stop messaging, but

I keep checking my phone.

I’m sleeping on my half just in case.

After a day, I stop checking, in

Complete resignation –

You don’t love me anymore.

I walk our dogs in the morning,

I make my own breakfast, and

I go food shopping.

I’m doing the things you always did.

A baby laughs from a stroller,

I’m thirty-six, so

I pull my sunglasses down.

Farmer’s market is done, and

I struggle with bags on the stairs;

I call for help carrying.

I’m remembering that you’re not there.

I bought so much food, but

I’ll have to break old habits, and

Our dogs are ecstatic again.

Sitting on the floor, and

Squeezing them I know,

I need to stop waiting –

You don’t love me anymore.

I need to stop waiting –

You don’t love me anymore.

I’m not going to keep waiting.

        ~Volpini Amentum Arete Anemone