The Truth About Sorrow

Here’s the truth about sadness.
You can tell yourself:
It’s been long enough; let it go.
Or, It’s been long enough –
it has let me go.
You can insist, It’s been so long
Since that death;
our divorce;
the departure.
You can say it outloud:
It’s been years since I stood
beside the open grave;
in court;
at the empty doorway.
Plenty of years; a thousand years.
Enough years.
But you’re lying
or delusional.
The only time it’s been long enough
is when the feelings were so flimsy
that you wouldn’t need any time at all.
Note to readers:
This is not a complaint –
just an explanation
from an essayist who’s always been
a lousy but hopeful poet.

It’s the fourth day of the thirty-ninth month of My Year Without Complaining. Life continues.

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