Ache

I watch him getting ready

Calm and collected

Choosing non-confrontational white

eschewing my fave mauve

and his beloved ink-blue 

Memories singe

Words vanish

I choose a non-confrontational breakfast routine

We bury our heads in respective news rags

Butter the burnt toast

Check the pings

The coffee scalds

Cutlery converse

Flavors left unsavored

He makes the first move

A dry peck on the forehead

A desultory ‘see you soon’

Vanishes before I auto-respond

I exhale a relief

Mull my escape options

Settle instead for the habitual domestic drone

But shed a sorry tear

At the terrible descent

From a soulmate to a teammate

A dead romance

A heart gone astray

A marriage of convenience

These sounds of silence

Overpowering and shrill

Being brave is brutal

Being the norm is breaking

Yet sickeningly comforting

Waking up to walk tall

Or to even walk away

Just an abandoned dream...Maybe another day!