An Ending
Alexej von Jawlensky
El velo rojo
Red Veil
1912
She didn’t say I was a bore
she didn’t say she didn’t love me any more
she just said that with me
she didn’t want to live her life.
There was no other man
there was no other plan
she said, so she said
I didn’t know what to say in return.
I feel on reflection
that my sense of rejection
would have been lesser
If she had confessed to having another lover.
During our time together
was she constantly wondering whether
her sentiments were true
or just a passing whim?
Hers may not be an isolated case
many women in my space
have lost interest
in a relationship.
They have their family
they are okay financially
they have their friends
they have a roof over their heads.
Why complicate this paradigm
losing precious time
by having to contend with a man
and navigate with his different world?
I like to assume
I am not of this plume
that I am a 21st century man
despite being born in 1946.
I clean, I cook
I try to look
at my companion as an equal
I do not seek to monopolize her time or her mind.
But it seems I failed to address
the concerns of my Malaga princess
she let me loose
free to create a new life
- If indeed, I so can….