No Longer Living in my Living Room

Your long-planned move
To the other coast
Took place last week.

Neither of us can explain
How plugging your motor home
Into my house for the nights
Evolved into
Living in my living room.

Now all I can remember
About living alone
Is that I hated it.

With you:
Evening cuddles.
Morning cuddles.
A cup of tea
To start the day.
Long conversations
Sometimes late into the night.

We took turns
Being rock
And irresistible force.

Sometimes helpful
Sometimes unfair
But overall good for each other.

We both cried a bit
As you drove away.

All I could think of was
Drawing comfort from facts:
    We're still friends.
    This departure was planned
    It was amicable separation.

I don't know how I would have taken
An angry break up
Or one of the many kinds
Of permanent partings.

Your spirit still echoes
Through the house.
A friendly spirit
A spirit of friendship.

It creates a kind of living alone
That I think I will not hate.


	23 August 2001
	by Bill Cattey