Foot Note to Leaving*

Saying goodbye is an inappropriate song
enchantingly sung
to an audience afraid to criticize.
They pass it off because of its beauty,
not of its sense.
It is a curious thing to say
without even remembering the first meeting.
And in leaving,
a weight drags, taking time
to imagine and take things in.
Soon, it will be as common as breathing,
these goodbyes and despedidas.
Getting used to leaving
(unlike singing) doesn’t need much practice––
only an acceptance
of the way things are,
down that path of your choosing.
But more important than saying
these goodbyes, is the tracing,
and the finding
of the way back to the homes you have built,
the pasts you have sung off––
foreign notes and alien tunes––
music that once seemed so
familiar
now just a whisper

in the distance.

*for Fathers A, J, and M