You've been gone one night and lucky is
the embrace of another
Keeping you warm in this bleak
January slumber
"He's away on business"
to the tune of the coffee drip
Coworkers ask when you're coming back
I just bite my lip
You've been gone two nights and lucky is
the expanse of the ocean
Vast and indifferent to hysterical
torrents of emotion
Lone voice cries out and echoes across
waves crashing into each other
Desperately raspy from screaming
Pleading with your new lover
You've been gone three nights and lucky is
the strength of linoleum floors
Steady against both shattering glass
and violently slamming doors
Steady against hands rough with shards,
yet slick with dripping blood
Steady as the thick grief wanes,
letting up on the flood
You've been gone four nights and lucky are
bedsheets that I forgot to wash,
perfumed of our last time together
Lucky is the bed I lay them across
Your silhouette returned to the marital bed
rolls over and holds me tight
For the first time since you left me,
I sleep all through the night
You've been gone five nights and lucky are
walls that emanate your voice
Though I can't tell where it's coming from,
regardless, I rejoice
Jumping at every movement
Shrieking with glee at every sound
Dearest, have you come back to me?
What treasure have I found?
You've been gone six nights and lucky is
the glittering mirror on the wall
that reveals you just behind me,
turning down the hall
Wandering the house to find you,
sweetly calling out your name
Then tearing through all the closets,
unwilling to lose this game
You've been gone seven nights and lucky are
hands deathly stiff from cold
To find your face still glowing,
stark like blood against the snow
Crying out thanking Mother,
you're still a sight to see
Kiss your forehead, claw at your scent
Move you to make room for me
I've been here one night and lucky are
wrists that clink together like bells
I can see you flashing a knowing smile
for a secret you'll never tell
Your face so mild and lovely,
though mislead from the start
The night we wed I lied to you,
nothing could ever do us part
