In Which I Left Her

I wear clown shoes
To hide what is
Broken inside me.
The clockwork gears
Of my heart
That once kept Mountain Time
Have ceased their
Pendulous sway
And memory
Is now the mirrored glass
On the lake where she
Lies
A weary head.

I could lie
Forever
If I didn’t love her.
Make trinkets of silver
From mud and spit.
Offer them up with constancy
Like a child offers
With the very best
Of intensions.
Yet, tears of longing
Would only wash them away
Corrode
Make sharp the edges
And prevent
Lives
From moving
Forward
As they should.