Breaking Even

BREAKING EVEN

You have to ask,

There’s really no question.

What comes next?

I’m fresh out of suggestions.

You say and I say

That it’s love that we believe in,

Yet here we are, honey,

Barely breaking even.

I take a turn

You take a turn

I see your turn

Then you raise me.

You know and I know

That we’ve gone beyond retrievin’,

But here we are still

Breaking even.

And we’re old enough

To have done it all before.

It could work, more or less,

But less isn’t more.

So you’ve gone cold.

I’ve been away too long.

Just a couple of statues

In a temple bare of song.

Stone doesn’t bleed,

So they’ll be no need for grievin’

After we’ve gone and

Broken even.

What comes in must go out

That much I learned from breathing.

Why was I surprised

When we broke even?

C. 2020 Willa Mamet