Finality

the sky keeps secrets for another day,

and I keep finding ways to miss you

when you might be staring down

like an overseer, a god, an alien

this life I lead has given me grace

to accept all those things I will never

be able to change, no matter

how I may scream or plead

when I left home for the first time

I did not think it would be the last,

a string of endings ready to swallow

me in a cave of uncertainty, ceaseless

you told me once that I had choices

and maybe I squandered enough

for a lifetime all the way down

the cursed family tree, to the roots

telling me to stay might have been

the death of me, and you knew that,

thus why you let me go, hiding

tears that would have stalled me

the sky is cloudy today, telling me

that there are still storms to come,

and the future is just as murky

no matter which life I lead

but you told me to do my best,

to “knock ‘em dead,” how ironic,

and you waved through the glass

just one last time, etched in memory