When You Leave The House Poem by RIC BASTASA

i have known a lot of reasons why
you leave this house, you want to go shopping early morning
when the malls are still closed, but i do not really mind,
i think i understand (how is it when love starts to wane
like a diminishing moon last night, giving its final light
for the month) ,
you say you want to visit your mother you claim she is sick and
dying, i do not really mind at all (you are afraid to face
what faces us, this evident eyes of boredom staring at us
like we are convicts of finally wanting to cease to love)
still i will not mind, you leave again today
the kitchen falls short of shrimps and fish
there is no more lettuce and some black peppers
and red juicy tomatoes, (you are now fond of enumerating
things to me, you count your fingers and your toes and you
do not see straight in my eyes)
the olive oil is gone

yesterday, i spend time alone watching the sunset
on the boulevard (you are not with me)
(i know you want to be preoccupied with something else
some things that do not interest me)
you are not coming home
for a week or two, just a family emergency
in the city where you live
(did you tell me it is very noisy there?)

i watch the sun die finally
it is very peaceful outside
i wait and take my seat calmly on the cold bench
by the sea
there is no moon tonight
there is only this cold wind from the sea from that distant island
on the other side of this routinary existence
touching my heart

it is the longing of distance, the past coming back to me
the sea breeze still salty to my taste
so cold, that i finally shiver and leave at once
i cannot withstand this longing

this night unlike the other nights is darker
but i am still seeing the shadow of your beautiful face