As They Leave, One By One, Until I Am Left Alone With This Realization..... Poem by RIC BASTASA

one by one
you have to leave me.
at first it could be
a source of my anxiety,
but sooner
in an acceptance of
what is temporary and
of the tenet that
everything goes away
to find their own homes too,
and as i have found this
home for myself,
must i be sad? must i not
claim this home
upon myself as the home
that i cannot leave
because this is mine in the
first place?
you all leave because this
is never yours,
because i am never yours,
and i feel so victorious.