Driving down a jagg'd road
I see your fa'ade fading away in my rear-view mirror.
There you were, your back towards me,
Helpless,
Anxious and awaiting,
Our final goodbye.

You had wanted to leave before me
To avoid the dreaded pain of separation
My water-falling eyes, my distraught smile
And the dwelling treachery of letting go.

The truth was that our roads diverged;
We were not the same people we once were months ago.
The valor would remain everlasting,
Our fervor could never grow faint.
Distance would separate us
But it would never end us.

My heart ached the entire journey home.
Before I boarded my flight,
I lingered by the gate, fantasizing my Cinderella escape.
But this was no fairy tale but in fact brutal reality.

I was alone again.
Heart-rendering tears
Were cried and re-cried.

You had become a habit,
The city a dwelling,
The lake an escape,
And freedom, an expectation.

But all that remained were
Throbbing heartaches,
Unrealistic fantasies
And inerasable memories.
And as real as they seemed
One day I would cease to exist
Even in your dreams.