Think Before You Speak. Poem by Neil Gray

This time I knew it was over.

Sure,
she'd walked out on more than one occasion
vowing that the day she came back
would be the day that the Devil
skated to work
but there was something
more final about this.

She said she loved me
but it wasn't enough.

She said I must had known
that it had been coming
for awhile.

She told me it was just something she had to do.

I poured myself a tall one
and lit a fresh cigarrette
to keep my mouth
occupied,
while outside the clouds leered in
through the bay window.

'You never listen to me' she said
'You never ask me what I want,
All you do is take and never give anything back'

I changed the channel on the Tv
to something more palatable than the news,
picked up the cat's favorite ball and dropped
it on the floor for them to fight over.

'See, you're doing it right now.
I'm about to walk out of your life
and all you can do is watch
that thing and play with the animals.
Don't you have anything you want
to say too me? '

The storm outside finally broke
with such violence that before I knew it
I'd said:

'You better take an umbrella,
You'll catch your death otherwise.'