Ten Ways To Say Goodbye

ONE

Up up up they ran, to the very top

of the tower

in a flurry of breathlessness.

All was laughter, fleeting touches

of the hand, smiles made

golden by moonlight.

Far below them, the avenues

of the capital of Love

glittered with promises of forever.

He caught her wrist -

She turned to him -

He clumsily brushed lips

against cheek and

knocked her hat to

the wind. They watched

the speck melt into the night's

darkness, then her voice

at his ear, light, playful, reported

that she would be back

with it and more, and he

waited at the railings, gazing

at the stars that had fulfilled

his wishes. He waited

at the edge of the

world - he waited, only

she never came back.