By the Hour

By the hour, I watched you leave, On a journey from which You promised no return. You reached for my hand Every time that you had saved Enough alimony from your divorce with speech, And said goodbye with not a syllable. By the hour, Your pulse sung slower And the distance grew shorter And one day, the bridge was in sight. I said every prayer words could form, I held you tighter when I heard the drums Of mortality calling to your soul And wished it had been just an ordinary cough. But it was your last. By the hour, I had murdered this moment a million times. I wish I had murdered it one more time.