If you were here
maybe you’d say the right words.
Perhaps you’d be willing to talk to me
telling me it will all turn out all right
because it always does
except when it doesn’t.

If you were here
you’d probably put an arm over shoulder
and say “there there”
or something equally significant.
You’d do what you could
to try to turn my mood around.

If you were here
though
I would simply shrug off your consolations
and explain how I knew it would be all right
because that is what boys do
except when they don’t.

If you were here
of course
I doubt I would need to act
like everything was normal
since I would not have to acclimate
to the loss of you.