A case of you

Just before falling from the sky I heard you say
'I am as constant as the Northern Star'
and oh just as bright!
And falling, I thought of symbols I might string together
to tether
myself closer to you
to assign some significance and say,
in a voice foreign or familiar,
the fears that weigh me down

In bar in Seattle, in the blue screen light,
I drew a map of your heart
with puncture wounds and a gaping wide cul-de-sac
where I once lived

Where just before daylight
I drank a toast 'to a long and happy life'
to you.
I grit my teeth for you, snuffed out my cigarette
and headed East into the black
Alone.

And I could ask
with feigned ingorance
why do we live this way
Knowing as I do
~our pain is self-chosen~
you might venture an evasive reply.