Departure

What evil does not come from memory?
Too little, too late depends on it,
as does the feud families carry across oceans,
naming the hurtful dead even as the engines labor
to carry them away.

                                   Remember
how we kissed and then left
each other? You should forget,
as I have, the endless nights that made loneliness
a homeland, betrayal as casual as a passport.

Anyone who crosses borders understands theft.
Anyone who leaves a self behind can't plead innocence.

Copyright © 2004 Stan Sanvel Rubin All rights reserved
from Five Colors
Custom Words
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission