It Burned
by Rodolfo G. Ledesma
it burned
a hole in a dark corner
deep in my mind
in that awful New York
minute when she turned
and coldly
walked away
her strides persuasive
in marking a fault line
I never
would have guessed
a suspicion eating
its way
to the surface
gone in seconds
as if she had seen
in my silence
the stillness
of something broken
gone like rain
disappearing in the sand
her forced smile
I realized too late
a hasty wave of goodbye.
a hole in a dark corner
deep in my mind
in that awful New York
minute when she turned
and coldly
walked away
her strides persuasive
in marking a fault line
I never
would have guessed
a suspicion eating
its way
to the surface
gone in seconds
as if she had seen
in my silence
the stillness
of something broken
gone like rain
disappearing in the sand
her forced smile
I realized too late
a hasty wave of goodbye.
Rodolfo G. Ledesma teaches economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. Prior to that, he taught for a number of years in the U.S. and Seoul, South Korea, where he won a Best Teacher award in 2010. He has a poem published in Compass Rose. He is also the author and illustrator of Volume 1 & 2 of the cartoon book A Dog’s Guide to Making It in America.