Such a delicate-held balance

            Within you and I and... this

         It's always been so fragile

            Like a never-born soft kiss

         The softest equilibrium

            Suspended without touch

         And all it took was distance

            To obliterate so much

         So fragile and so tender

            So delectable and sweet

         Two counterparts that couldn't stand

            Disinterest or deceit

                               "Your name like ice into my heart"

As you envelop me in closeness and sincerity

And then just quickly fade away

Disappear

And leave me (like this fragile balance)

                  -- Broken --

    I wonder how it will feel to be dead to me?

    I wonder how it's so easy for me to be dead to you?

    (Seemingly invisible)

    Except that this appears to be much more voluntary on your part

    You know your absence kills me and yet you give it just the same

But even as I fade myself,

  Resigned to face the truth

Remember that you vanished first;

  I only followed suit.

And if you ever turn around

  And notice that I've left

It was only self-survival

  In this lurid Turing test

Always when it hurts the most...

Was I really that expendable?

And all that's left now is bitterness...

Poetry and page layout by Jim Payne

Vanishing