Don’t Leave it Like That

I kept your face in the corner of the frame
Half-lit, almost leaving
Something stayed
Where it shouldn’t

A quiet I couldn’t place
Kept circling the air
I stood where meaning thinned out
Touching nothing back

We drove west without saying
What was leaving or who

Salt in the air or something like it
You leaned into the silence
Like it could hold
Your eyes didn’t follow
Just held the distance
Like it was already over

Light broke against you
Again and again
And never stayed

I almost heard something
Between stations
But it slipped
Before it meant anything

There was a tower
Or the idea of one
White against nothing
I didn’t ask why we stopped
You were already there

We sat where the land gives up
To something unnamed
I laid you down
Like it mattered
Or like I needed it to

I left the images closed
They fade if you wait

Edges loosen
Everything softens
And I think you did too

Don’t leave it like that
Don’t leave it like that
Don’t leave it like that
Don’t leave it like that