4 when another man leaves a mess

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