When Someone Leaves

I was folding your shirts today

Ones you saw fit to leave behind

Found myself standing there

Clutching at the material until it wrinkled again

Your warm scent is breathed into the air from the fibers

Your presence sorely missed

I don't know what mum thinks as she cries

downstairs in the kitchen

I don't know if she is simply tired

Or if she's given up hoping

I turn away from the laundry on your bed

To face the window

You had a wonderful view from this room

I can see the tractor shed and the river

That flows by the pine trees

Where we used to play and

dream the hours away

The corner of a piece of paper spikes my hand

as I fumble a fist into my pocket

Your goodbye note to me

A reason not to stay home anymore

You always talked about going somewhere busier

Where you could live in a way that matched the surroundings

And I wanted to be a fairy princess!

I thought it was just a dream

Then came this note stuck under the door

And I went to school alone that day

So now you're off making your own way

I would let you go but why did you

have to break mum's heart this way

I edge my hand away from the page

And let it hang down by my side

I can only guess where you've gone

But mum has no clue

I can only pray for your safety

That you find a way through

I love you so much but I'll be here for mum

This wasn't the plan

But I'll graduate alone