Ending It Poem by Robert Rorabeck

To begin something is only to end it:
This love, this paper cut of an airplane in the sky:
To love a woman who you went to school with,
Who only remembers things clearly from
The first ten years of her life or
So;
And that you gave her flowers and birthstones,
Because she was your first or second or
Third obsession,
But always one of the best ones:
To receive three or so kisses from her:
Two on the neck, one on the lips; and then to never
Hear from her again
Because you disappointed her fancy, while
She was looking away across the sea trying not to
Get caught:
Disappointed her but not quite as much as you have
Disappointed yourself or your mother;
Not quite as much as you would have disappointed
Her four children
Who are already hungry and waiting for her to feed them,
As you would have had her feed you; ending it,
With her lips, and eyes, and tongue.