i have this friend of a friend,
she lives in Milwaukee
her husband left her last year,
used alcohol as excuse
to get away from responsibility,
away from the little girls
all under age seven, hungry for hugs
at first she used to say
she wished he’d get sober
but then he did, and he still didn’t return
i was the one who had to listen
to all the angry words,
heartbreak and betrayal
because she was over 40
not as exciting as
the woman who hadn’t
spent the last seven years
birthing then tending his daughters
i listened until i couldn’t anymore
until i had to ask not to hear
because it broke my heart
because it reminded me of how
most pain is just so pointless
most people are so short-sighted
when it comes to what’s important in life
i sometimes wonder how promises
have become so hollow
like glass reeds, they shatter
at the first heavy wind
forever didn’t use to mean
“until i find something better”
and i cry for all the men
those daughters will never love
because of the first man who
didn’t love them as they deserved
but most of all i wonder
about that man, about
how he will feel when,
old and reminiscing
he wonders about any of it
or saddest of all
if he never does and
the redemption of time
is just my own dream
for her and her and her and her
and for him
and for us all