From Merrit Malloy's book----The People Who Didn't Say Goodbye
 
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SOMETHING YOU CAN COUNT ON
 
I want to tell you
in a few words
what I could not tell you
in too many
 
I want you to know
that it will be hard
to live without you
again
 
You will always be the one
I'm thinking about
when somebody asks me
who I'm thinking
about

SOCIAL SECURITIES
 
It's easy to grow old
All you have to do is
go on living . . . But
 
If you grow old together
You have to do it with
somebody

SOMETHING I OFTEN FORGET DURING THE DAY

The stars don't come out at night
.  .  . They have always been there
EARNINGS
 
There were lots of times
when they didn't think
they'd make it
 
Nights when they
would lie awake
just holding
on
 
And often
when the babies were little
they thought about
leaving each other
But ... they
wouldn't
 
Later
When they could have
they didn't
So
 
'In for a penny, in for a pound,'
my Nana used to say
. . . The secret to staying together
is to stay
together

OLD PHOTOGRAPHS
 
How often
do you think of all those people
who you were never
going to
forget

NATIVE DANCERS
 
You know you'll be back ... So
where are you
going?
 
Is leaving me
the only way you have of finding out
how much I want you
to stay?

A MATTER OF FACT
 
It's amazing how many people
will care about you
if only you would care
about them  .  .  . And
 
It's even more remarkable
how many people
will care about you
anyway

CONTEMPLATION
 
I wonder what cats think about
.  .  . They always look as though
they're planning
something

CHOICES
 
All you have to do
to change your life
is to change your mind
... It really is that simple
But it isn't always
easy
 
All you have to do to
stop feeling bad
is to start feeling
good . . . but
 
'Feeling good' is not a
onetime event
It is a decision we make
minute by minute
day by day
... It is a creation
 
The way to change the world
is to change your attitude
towards it
. . . not just once
but all the
time

AN ARGUMENT FOR ABSOLUTION
 
He thinks his honesty
redeems him ... He thinks
telling the truth
will change the
facts
 
He thinks confessing his crimes
and giving you their brutal details
will change everything
But
Honesty has never
changed the
truth

THE LIE THAT CAME TRUE
 
I said, "I'll miss you"
but, I didn't
then
 
How could I understand change
when my socks were always in the same drawer?
how could I know how to want you back
when you'd always been with me?
 
"I'll miss you," I said
. . . it was a lie
that came
true

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE
 
He lives across the street
And I measure off the block
at both ends
so that the whole neighborhood
can be our home
. . . He in one room
Me in another
 
The distance between
any two people
is only the length
of their
arms