It Hurts Any Way You Say It

Good-bye!

You are in a rush
Not me
up you go on your escalator

Why does ‘see you later’
make eyes sting
and blur with saline grief?

Good-byes shouldn’t hurt
The smart of a sunburn
staying out too long in the UV rays

Farewells shouldn’t be skin pinching
in a window track
Fingers mangled and bruised

‘Maybe next time we meet’
A gasp of exquisite pain
bloodied knee on gravel

Jaunty substitutions don’t work
It hurts the same
any way it comes out

Adios

Sayonara

Auf Wiedersehen

Adieu

Just words?
They are the souls
of the places I lived
The people who’ve left.

Until we meet again.