Some People

When my friend told me
he’d rather lose his lover
by separation than by death,
something finally clicked in me—
not everyone knows how it feels
to carry grief that has no grave.

And it made sense;
all the frowns, the sneers, the laughter,
for not everyone recognizes this kind of misfortune.

And how lucky they are
to never have their souls
tied to another who slips the knot
and walks away.

To never love someone
with every fiber of their being,
every neuron in their body,
only to lose them.

Every day I bargain in my head
over which part of me I’d trade
just to have him back.
Maybe my left eye, maybe my right hand,
maybe my liver, maybe my life.

535 days after he left,
I understand why some people
end their life over a heartbreak
and how some people cannot begin
to imagine it.

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