Cells

I don’t know

If you know this,

But I read somewhere

It takes 7 years

For all the cells in

Your body

To regenerate.

I don’t know how

Scientifically true

That is,

But it makes for great poetry,

Doesn’t it?

We’ve been seeing each other

For 21 years now.

Do you notice

How I say

“Seeing each other”?

Do you notice

I don’t say

“Knowing each other”?

Or “loving each other”?

You probably

Didn’t notice.

If I’ve got the

Maths and Science

Right.

And if I adopt

A bit of poetic license

Here and there,

That would mean

I’ve already met 3

Different

Versions of you.

I suppose you’ve met

3 different versions

Of me too.

Personally,

I don’t think I

Have changed much.

Maybe you disagree?

You, on the other

Hand,

Well, that’s a

Completely different

Story.

I feel like

I don’t know

You anymore.

I’d like to blame

That all on Science,

To use the facts to

Explain it all away.

I wish I could say

He isn’t the very same him

That I met.

But where does that

Leave me?

Should I

Leave you?

Maybe I should try

To get to know the new you,

The real you,

The only you?

Should I try

To love that you?

After 21 untraceable years,

That seems impossible.

But I will try.

Even though we have grown apart,

Our cells have aged,

And died,

And been reborn,

And have grown.

This third you,

That I’m sure I

Don’t know,

Seems unknowable now,

Because I let

Too much time

Pass.

I allowed

Too much change

To come between us.

This third thing,

What do I call it?

Is it…

An absence,

Or a loss,

Or a strange,

New addition?

Whatever it is

Has forced us apart.

Another 7 years

Would be torture,

I’m sure.

I just want the

Old you back.

I bet you’d like

The old me back, too.