Bisections

By Bob McAfee

Everything looks better in half-light, consider
the face of an aging lover reflected in memory,
early morning after a night of rain, the sunlight
caressing dewy buds that open into warm tears.

🩷🩷🩷

Likewise all things spoken in half-truth have
a sort of Cartesian honesty – we love
therefore we are – I bleed therefore I am,
if only for a moment in the aftermath.

🩷🩷🩷

Is it logical to believe that pain follows
a law of half-lives from day to day reduced
by half, the burden of immeasurable grief
assuaged across the solace of the years?

🩷🩷🩷

And here I lie half-naked at midnight, reliving
your seductions, recalling the angles of your face,
a lifetime no respite from the pain.
The bisected heart beats slow then dies in place.

🩷🩷🩷

---

Bob McAfee is a retired software consultant who lives with his wife near Boston. He has written nine books of poetry, mostly on Love, Aging, and the Natural World. For the last several years he has hosted a Wednesday night Zoom poetry workshop. Since 2019, he has had 101 poems selected by 41 different publications. His website, www.bobmcafee.com, contains links to all his published poetry including ten poems in Micromance.