You tell a friend you don’t know
if you still love him.
She says, “If you have to ask, you don’t.”
Your sister says, “Every couple goes through this.”
A coworker says, “Leave. I wish I had.”
Your mother says, “Give it time.”
All of them love you.
All of them are talking about their own lives.
You lie awake beside him.
You try the sentences one by one.
Nothing fits.
You lay them out in a row,
like coats on a bed,
and none of them has your shoulders.
Outside, a bus goes by
with its lights on and no one asking it anything.
A woman shakes a blanket from a window.
The kettle downstairs begins to tick as it heats.
He wakes and says, “You’re up early.”
You say, “Yes.”
It answers nothing.
It is the only thing said all week
that did not need to fit.
if you still love him.
She says, “If you have to ask, you don’t.”
Your sister says, “Every couple goes through this.”
A coworker says, “Leave. I wish I had.”
Your mother says, “Give it time.”
All of them love you.
All of them are talking about their own lives.
You lie awake beside him.
You try the sentences one by one.
Nothing fits.
You lay them out in a row,
like coats on a bed,
and none of them has your shoulders.
Outside, a bus goes by
with its lights on and no one asking it anything.
A woman shakes a blanket from a window.
The kettle downstairs begins to tick as it heats.
He wakes and says, “You’re up early.”
You say, “Yes.”
It answers nothing.
It is the only thing said all week
that did not need to fit.
