The End

The End was bitter.
No matter how hard I tried to make it not be,
The End was bitter.

It struck me most
When I tried to talk with you like we used to,
But I couldn't.
The words fell uselessly
Like raindrops on our shoes.

I tried.
Like Vietnam, I tried.
Like Joe Frasier, I tried.

I tried to glue, to mend, to sew,
To hopscotch through the minefields,
To nurse the embers.
To bring back whatever was.

In the Beginning
We went for a shopping spree on Michigan Avenue
For Aztec chocolate and Turkish tobacco,
Cognac in crystal, a diamond Rolex,
With nickels in our pockets.