Chella Courington

A Young Woman in Black Watches An Older Couple at a Table

His lips moving
teeth occasionally
visible
her face
in her hands
she never
responds
never
until the man
walks out

In his
receding steps
she raises her head
gazes
at a young woman
in black

Neither flinches
understanding
how hearts
subside
love
seeps away

steady drain of habit
as two bodies
side by side
sharing
the same bed
same morning
coffee
wake one day
see
the other
etched in lines
and walk away

to find what's lost

 

Chella Courington is a writer and teacher. With a Ph.D. in American and British Literature and an MFA in Poetry, she is the author of six poetry and three flash fiction chapbooks. Her poetry appears in numerous anthologies and journals including Non-Binary Review, Gargoyle, Pirene's Fountain, and The Los Angeles Review.