You'd Be Just as Gone

You'd be just as gone,
and I'd be just as lonely -
no use to play 'if only.'
That's just a game
and anyway, things'd be the same -
you'd be just as gone.

We don't know why we're apart,
unless you count the time
I punched you in your sleep
when you flirted with my girlfriend.
Or the dreadful days of summer
when you worked afield.
We drifted, lost among the deep
wounds of time,
too much alone,
too much in love.
Too much altogether.
There is no why.

Too many years
to think we could regain
a vestige of the same
old heat, the same old fire-
memory trumping desire.
You'd be just as gone.

And I'd be just me.