”Echoes” (2024) By Rachel Sumner
We are always being left
Or we always leaving
Fate cuts the straws
And lovers have to draw lots
There’s no way to brace for theft
When Time’s behind the thieving
But tell me, just how long have we both got?

Some days it's crystalline and I can see things clearly:
Though we hope the road is longer than it is rough
There is no number known or close at all, not nearly
That could ever make a life with love long enough

Are we living in a dream
And who's the daring dreamer
Setting two to work
On trying to become one?
I’ll admit I’ve lived with disbelief
That I'd find my true believer
But here you are: my world, my ever-shining midnight sun

But some nights it's hard to let you hold me close and tightly
For those tender times return as achin’ echoes
And the line between what's comforting and haunting isn't tidy
And love, I don't know if I could ever let you go

I will either cause the grief
Or I'll be left the griever
Oh, my dearest darling
When that day is done
And our bed becomes too big and bleak–
Well, perhaps this wish is bleaker:
But, I hope my side's the empty one

I'm terrified my life will move along without me
Scared I won't remember how to live alone
To be left and plagued by heartache and photographs and memories–
Of us two, you would do better on your own

Are we always being left?
Or are we always leaving?