Letter to a Lost Friend

By Jennifer Ellen

What am I to do with you now?
You who walked away
A cold individual self.

I know you didn’t set out
To tear into me,
But you had to take
All of you with you.

And while I didn’t know
How not to let go,
I also didn’t know
How to staunch the wounds.
I just stood there numb
Watching them bleed a life away.

The person I was with you
I will never quite be again.

What does forgiveness mean?
I wish it meant forgetting,
But that is beyond me.
I wish it meant no more hurt,
But that too is more than I know.

Maybe it’s beyond this.

All I know is that
We are lost.

And now that the harmony’s gone,
The melody sounds so alone.
All you left behind
Was your silence
And your space.

© 2001 Jennifer Ellen