Caleb Perry Murdock

After

This is the part where we become friends
after the love has died; where kisses
turn to texts which trail off because
I am now someone he never misses,

unlike the days when he couldn’t live
without me.  Perhaps I should be glad.
Friendship is a deeper kind of love,
or so I’m told.  I miss what we had,

long nights of skin pressing warm skin;
becoming animals ‘til dawn.
But every night must end.  Nothing lasts
forever, or even lasts for long.

But are we still friends?  That is a thin
reed to cling to now it’s over.
I won’t learn to love him as a friend
until I snare another lover.

Caleb Perry Murdock is 73 years old and lives in Rhode Island. He spent most of his life as a word-processing operator for law firms. He has written poetry since his twenties, but he didn’t lose his chronic writer’s block until his late sixties. He is now writing up a storm to make up for lost time.