Last Thoughts

by Tom Leopardi

I came across a picture of you
In the back of the top drawer of the bureau you used to use
It was of your face, near the end

Full of your dark beauty
Veiled in the anger we lived with then

I don't know who took your photo
I don't think I ever saw it before
In the background was a park we had never visited

I knew it was over
That night you left me sitting alone
In the Japanese restaurant

“Izakaya” you insisted
“Sushi bar” I said
“Izakaya Izakaya Izakaya”
As you grabbed your scarf, pushed back your chair, and fled out the door

A stupid thing to argue over
I guess I said a lot of stupid things then
An awkward way to come to an end

Thinking now, looking at the picture
We had ended already
The proof was in my hands

A photo of a woman
Taken by her lover
In a park I never saw