The End Of The Affair Poem by Allan Thorne

I was trying to end it
And still be friends.
Unlike my usual operating procedure
Which is to pick a big fight
And never speak to the lady again,
Or at least for a year or two.


The last time I saw her in person,
Her cat had just died.
She had been up all night crying.

I spoke to her by phone while I was at work.
She was on a bus headed from Rapid City to Chicago.
At the end of a brief and uninformative conversation I said,
“I love you” before I hung up.

Several days later she sent me an e-mail
Which was a series of pictures
From the National Geographic.
There was no explanation
Or text to accompany the pictures
Which were of various animals.

I went to the signing
That caused the house we had lived in
To be sold.
She had been there before me.
The escrow agent had taken a photocopy of her ID.
I could see it in the packet of papers.
It was upside down.

I have felt blue for two weeks now
Waking up each morning
With that black empty feeling in my stomach
And a bunch of impossible fantasies in my head.
I think I would feel better now
If we had just had
That big fight.