i have asked you, i have chased you,
i have received you and i have heard you:
i have followed you around
with an open heart in my open hands
like a penitent.
i have invited you, i have cherished you,
i have bathed you in wine
and affection: i have burnished your heart
with heat, and sex, and time.
i have waited, willingly, for hours, for weeks,
and even years now, as i look back:
i have offered, religiously,
parts of myself that cannot truly be given away.
i have called you, i have sung to you,
i have begged and i have scolded you;
at least this time, when
your back is silhouetted, momentary,
in my doorway, i can say
i have done what can be done.
and i am done.