It’s not like I’m leaving,
I said, though by some counts
I was already
long gone

It’s not like I could leave
the new and old nets of care,
not like I could stop loving

Just that the goals
here in this rarified air
have nothing to do with
what used to possess me

Just that my time is spent
along a different vector
and the measurement
of what is worth my doing
has completely changed —
other than that
I’m just the same.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 11, 2017