Awaying

When we are by ourselves, somewhere

alone – as rarely happens – we

are awkward with the double lack.

We miss the two who are elsewhere

but also the identity

we have in them. When we go back,

we think, will we have lost the knack

of being who we are? The pair,

the parents, you and me,

who hold and fix, who cope and care.

But we remain that anywhere

we go. It is us, finally.

Absence is absence, not attack

by nothingness. And we are free

to travel far, to pack, repack,

to take ourselves off anywhere.

We will be here when we come back.