The Thing Is... Poem by Ivan Donn Carswell

the thing is I knew
why I stayed
it made more sense
than simply giving in
besides there’s nowhere else
I’d rather be alone
with memories

oh, for sure
it’s true that
you can claim
estrangement isn’t
new it lasted in
suspension more
than forty years

and took the same
redressing vows it broke
as tragic words unsaid
while mending novice
wings to fly courageously
without a map and land
on one leg blind

but nothing’s really
changed my mind
except this new reality
wherein I see the
fracture is the leg
you broke as sacrifice
in finding pain
© 17 September 2009, I. D. Carswell