THE INEVITABLE BUT

I knew that it was coming.
No not ‘rapture in the sky‘ coming
or ‘watch your back’ coming [I’m coming for you];
just that around the corners of your words,
there was a ‘but’ coming.

I felt your carefully chosen words
fall in fluttered shapes around me though
landing in slow and deliberate movements.
Exhaustingly calculated like the actors
in the thriller movies
debating which wires on the bomb to cut
or as slow as my decision
between the dulce de leche
and the chocolate mouse cheesecakes
at the local bakery —
even when I darn well know
which one I’m going to choose.

Each syllable leading to each word
was laid out strategically,
awaiting the weight of the next.
Heavy on your own breath,
they resisted what was to follow them.
I resisted too fighting to save our now faded truths .
At the whisper of the ‘but’, my world fell into dead silence.
I no longer could hear you.
Only felt the vibration of my heart and the
loud clanking noise of my own thoughts.
This 3-letter monster had devoured all in its path.