When It Comes Poem by RIC BASTASA

when it comes
it comes
and i am ready
to go

what place is that
i do not really know

but it is definite
there is no coming back

when will i see you again?
i will never know

you see, i realize
everything has always been

uncertain
what they give us was

exactly the opposite
of what is here with us

everything has always been
an image of what is

and what ought to be
was not what was ever done

you see i am leaving this place
without regret

you see this is not my place
that is not really my house

that is not my garden
and that tree had never been mine

even from the moment
when i planted it as a seed

that flower that i love
i only touch for a while

its petals fall from my fingers
and then what i have is nothing

but a stem and a leaf
and this old ruined self