Dusk dances in on

the coattails of a whispering breeze,

comforting,

while you continue to

shut me out.

Protestations claw their way up my throat

and through my teeth,

pleas that become no more than

muffled intentions,

lost in the sea of glass

you’ve forced between us.

I am reduced to a shadow of breath,

heavy with desperation.

My shaking hands reach out to you,

fingers failing to find purchase in the divide.

Above me the sky becomes a darker shade of grey,

roiling with the emotion of pregnant clouds

crashing into one another,

crying out and trying

not to weep.

Your eyes, so empty this whole time,

remain so as you turn

and drift away,

disappearing into the folds of darkness

that used to be the folds of sheets

against our naked skin.

My cheeks are wet

but I leave them alone,

a salty goodbye

filled with all the sorrow of the sea.

The wind blows again,

more insistent now,

tugging at my hair and my heartstrings.

It’s closing time,

and the rain has begun.