When it's Over ...

There are Subtle Signs and "You Just Know"

One of life’s most heartbreaking moments is when we realize that for whatever reason, love is gone. It isn’t a sudden realization, but many small realizations spread over time and on different planes of what used to be the important parts of love and a life together.

Maybe you can relate …

When It's Over
by C.J. Heck

You don't always know
how you know.
It comes slowly,
the awareness.

With the certainty 
and final resignation
of a child learning 
there's no Santa Claus,
… you just know.

The breakfast table, 
once a venue
for long dreamy stares
and coffee-flavored kisses,
silently becomes a stage
for reading the news,
and eating breakfast.
  The only sound left ... the
ticking of the clock, and 
… you just know.

The smell of his shirt
when you'd bury 
your face there,
the feel of his hands 
on your body
as if they had 
a life of their own,
all silently slip to 
wherever memories go
to gather dust, and
… you just know.

You miss the nights,
how his body and yours
breathed and moved as one.
Maybe it's those nights
and the way they were
that give the knowing life, but
… you just know.

Like ocean waves 
upon the sand,
love recedes
with all the other yesterdays
and you would trade
all your tomorrows
to have it back, but
… you just know.


[Poem from the book, “Anatomy of a Poet”, written over the course of forty years. There is no one main theme, but a compilation of autobiography, memoir, and poetic observations of life.]

Published Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018
CJ’s World is a reader-supported publication.
If you enjoy reading my work, please
consider a paid subscription. Thank you.