I just heard the statistics on car accidents
so I promise to drive carefully
but I wrote you this note
just in case I don’t make it home tonight,
for you to read when your hands are steady
and for those times
when they aren’t.
You will wonder,
did we love each other well enough
and I will remind you
that I chose you every day
for your patience and your absurdity
and our messy life that was perfect
because it kept us together
and let me be free.
You will wonder,
can you raise our children on your own
and I will remind you that they chose you too,
in some waiting room
where flecks of matter pick their dads
and ours picked
the craziest most wonderful
one in the whole shop.
You will wonder,
what should you tell them,
so just hold them tight
and explain that we did all our loving
earlier than most,
tying spools of love around each other
with string so long
that I am a star in the sky now,
yes, that one,
held in space
by that very same string.
And I know you will wonder,
why did I get taken away so soon,
and you have to trust me on this one,
that I unzipped this fragile layer
and realized what you will too one day,
when you meet me here
in this place that looks nothing
like anyone guessed,
how did we never think of this,
an ending that makes
such perfect
peaceful
sense.