Loving And Leaving Poem by Maya Reid

My stepdad used to find himself friggin hilarious
And one of his favorite jokes was to say,
When someone had hurt themselves in some small way,
“Well how about I stomp on your foot?
“Then you’ll forget about whatever else was hurting you.”
I never thought he was funny,
But I think the concept could be used for joys as well as pains.
And I think they lied when they said,
“Absense makes the heart grow fonder.”
For the first few days, more or less,
An absense reigns much more present than a presence,
Missing someone takes the reigns, takes over your life,
And you let yourself sink lower than low.
Til one day you get up, dust yourself off, and resolve that
“Well, at any rate, life must go on.”
And go on it does.
You seek out your nearer friends and loved ones
Who, by being nearer, instantly become dearer,
And they distract you from the hole in your heart so well
That you’d think they had filled it in.
My stepdad thought a big hurt could mask a small one,
I say that a big joy can obscure a huge pain,
And you can let yourself be happy,
Remember how it feels to laugh and smile…
This charade can last for quite a while…
For however long it takes for you to see
The face of the one who had to leave.
Until you hear their voice.
Until they appear close enough that you could reach out and touch them
And you do,
And as your arms slide around one another,
The whole weight of missing them comes rushing back to you,
Knocks you over like an ocean wave,
And you never want to let them go again.
But this fondness resulted from reunion,
Not from the separation itself.
The heart grows weary of focusing on absense,
And love, even from others,
Is a hell of a distraction from pain.
I’d been having such a great time without you
That I’d forgotten how amazing every day with you is.
I can’t believe I never realized how much I miss you,
I never realized til you were right where
All along, I’d wanted you to be:
Til you had your arms around me.
I think the only thing they were right about is that
“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
But, though I miss you now, in the end,
We part only to meet again.