Mental Midget - Minute Moment Poem by Richard Phipps

Guess the time seemed right for you to go.
Couldn't take it any longer,
through no fault of your own.

Couldn't fight that feeling,
call it midlife, what you will.
This crisis brought what we had,
to a complete and total standstill.

I've thought about it much too long,
or maybe not enough.
Still can't remember what I did,
to make you leave in such a huff.

Was it what I said,
or what I did?
The signals that you sent me,
left me crazy in the head.

So I can lie, I can cheat, and I can steal.
You know, the usual double deal,
but I can't make a lie deny from you,
what is really real.

Guess the time seemed right for you to make your break.
I felt the simulated shaking,
that perpetual, figurative quake.

I looked into your eyes,
and still I couldn't see,
exactly what was on your mind,
your thoughts so hard to read.

Tough for me to remember,
harder for you to forget,
what it was or wasn't said,
that got you so upset.

No solution in tomorrow's edition,
to clue me what to do.
Leaves me in a quandary,
that usual mental stew.

So kick me in the head, knock me out of bed.
Make me pay, twenty-five hours every day.
I have this helpless feeling,
it's your love that I've misled.

August 26,2002