The Art of Letting Go

Best leave temptation where it lies
sleeping silently
undisturbed
like marital thoughts
and the key she used to leave
inside a secret alcove

To reflect upon last Summer
would resurrect the trauma
of those want-me and want-me-nots
interlaced with indiscretions
that I chose to ignore

As would walking through the debris
of soured romantic memory
with its inebriated pledging
neo-pagan religion
and precarious footholds

To sever all ties
discipline is required
no glancing over a shoulder
I’ll place an orchid upon her doorstep
then spirit myself away

Abandoning all sentiment
and hope of reconciliation
if by chance we should meet
repel the surreptitious ghosts
enticing us to speak

Circumventing that mesmeric gaze
and constant craving for those lips
for the naked truth is
that in her sensual world
all passion is short-lived

Time to say goodbye
to my heart’s desire
let my head rule in its wake
vying for her love
no longer serves me well
place it in a seven-stanza grave