Farewell
by Hannah J. Sassaman


goodbyes linger on the breath,
or did for us:  dribbling
around our mouths like a
leftover kiss, both messy

and sad. we said goodbye at
a train station, the floor littered
with store-bought farewells
in coffee cups and sweet pretzels.

i found a way to muffle sadness
in the same trash.  i adjusted my bag.
you pushed back a strand of my hair.
i caught the proverbial midnight train,

and read conrad like a vampire
through the back-cities of the state.
(things are forgotten on train seats,
lost through sealed emergency windows.)


Copyright © 1999 Hannah J Sassaman
All Rights Reserved

 
Hannah Jane Sassaman is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania. 
She has been featured in the print journal
Vox Humana, and the online
poetry workshop Zeugma.  She lives in a haunted house with an
attentioned-starved cat and eight other disillusioned college students.
 

Also by Hannah J. Sassaman:

Knot

Fruit

Poecketwatch

  Autonoe