When another man leaves a mess
Maybe at first it’s just a hesitation
As she pauses with her key to the door
while you wait behind her
Glancing through the crack in her door before you both walk in
But then as you are walking
Into the house of her llife
You start to see
Cracks in the walls
That resemble fist prints
Doors that hang slightly off thier hinges
Never closing right
Always needing a gentle push to be put to rights
And as you walk through the hallways
you hear the apologizes for the mess
And watch the panic as she rushes to grab it all so you don’t step on the things that were dropped
You see favorite books
piled onto a chair
being swept off so
you can sit and won’t have to wait
for her to place her precious things
one by one on the shelf
where they had fallen from
She opens her arms and says
Make yourself at home here
You see the vases patched with glue
Missing the shards
that are still laying by the wall
under the scuff at head height
Couch cushions that are lumpy
The impression of a body still left warm
And the size of her
Tissues fallen underneath
Where she had laid
as the television drones her to sleep each night