Me Without You

I wrote this poem in February 2004. And while I have thought about it many times over the years, it has become relevant to me again in recent months.

"Me Without You"

Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide
To hide, I can only retreat inside
Inside, I watch myself be strong
Strong, although I know its wrong
Wrong, because I'm not at fault.
At fault, at fault, who is to blame?
It's only salt --
Salt to our invisible wounds.
Wounds that sprung up overnight.
Overnight, they metastasize without the light
The light that shines at morning sun
Sun that never rises in our hearts --
What's done is done.
Done and gone, tick-tock, our time is gone.
Good-bye, good-bye, my weary heart wants rest.
Rest will not come until I pass the test.
The test, it looms in impatient waiting
Waiting for my spine to quit fading.
Fading, fading, fading fast
Fast, it's gone. This cannot last.
Last is final; final is through.
Through, we're through. It's me without you.

Passed!

The defense lasted all of an extremely terrifying eleven minutes, but I somehow managed to come up with the right words. Three minutes after leaving the defense, my phone dinged. An email informed me that I had passed. I replied to the email: "Are you sure you have the right person?"

Fifteen minutes later, I received an email saying that yes, I had indeed passed. So yay.

Another chapter comes to a close in just over two weeks.