The Ritual Of Leaving Poem by RIC BASTASA

leave before you
decide to say the words
unkind

say not
the words that hurt
they have no hands
to hold you

let leaving be simple
let goodbye
be the sigh of love

if you have a single tear
hide it inside your eyelid
if you have some regrets
keep then in your pockets

as you step out of the house
let the bangs be on
your hair
not the door

put up a little smile for the road
feel the falling leaf from a tree
cross this threshold
and then wave on the coming bus
step in there immediately
sit on the front
and never, never look back to
the face of the past

leave that wound alone
and let it heal with time
in the solitude of
its own understanding