And hearts that we broke long ago
Have long been breaking others.
– Auden

​

The counter in this game is a love-object
who unforgettably, unforgivably
left, or whom you left and now feel
bad about. They’re trying to walk off
their grief or yours. There’s not enough room
to pace at their place, and so they
go out. There aren’t enough streets in the city,
and so they return. Whether by obsessing, or
refusing even to think the name,
you move this counter on the board. Night comes,
you lie there staring at each other.
(If you didn’t have kids, who takes them?) At breakfast
you can’t eat; you’re amazed how well they can.
All dressed, they walk into a day spa,
bar, worthwhile charity, a library(?),
go to work. There they crash
year after year into glass ceilings, cursing
your name excessively at first, then just
among others. Or flying
from tier to tier, perk to perk, until from
that higher inanity they look down at you in your lower.