STOP FOR A MOMENT UNDER THE STREETLIGHT

“When you leave, stop for a moment, under the street light, 
I’ll watch, standing in the dark, from the window, 
I want to see you in half shadow, 
I want to remember you incomplete.” 
His voice is hoarse. 

“When will I see you again? ” 
I whisper to him. 

He doesn’t answer, 
He squeezes me hard around the waist. 

“Will I ever see you again? ” 
I whisper into the empty space between us. 

“Of course you’ll see me again, 
Lovers always meet again somewhere, 
you’ll see.” 
His voice barely audible, 

“Don’t tell me fairy tales, ” 
My voice a bit stronger now, 
Echoing the hollowness of an emptying world. 

“Don’t forget to stand under the street light, ” 
He repeats 

I can hear him holding his breath 
as I rush out the door, 
down the street, and into the somber night. 

“Don’t tell me fairy tales, ” 
I repeat 

I stand under the street light 
I turn my head. 
I see a shadow of a memory 
Enclosed within a dark, oblong frame. 

I pass couples embracing, 
without shadows, 
hiding in the dark. 

While walking under the trees, 
A vast loneliness surrounds me, 
I rush by the street lights of my life, never stopping, 
not wanting to remember being incomplete.
Sydnee Elliot