I hide my surprise at the shine in your eyes
as you dress to go out without me.
Just one of those things, unfolding your wings
I have to just let it be
but you’re brushing your hair as if I’m not there
I wonder if you can still see  

what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming –

our comfortable nest, the kids, all the rest,
a project we pledged to the grave.
However you cook it, your halo’s gone crooked,
your finger’s ring-less when you wave
goodbye. Who’d have guessed that someday you would test
those boundaries, but I’ll be brave
as you disappear, leaving me here
alone in the darkness to save  

what so proudly we hailed in the twilight’s last gleaming.  

You give me a grin when you stumble back in
acting like it’s no big thing.
Your hair is all tangled, you’re talking at angles,
you’re burning our flag for a fling.
Something inside is saluting goodbye
but in dawn’s early light I still cling  

to what I still hail in the twilight’s last gleaming.