The Hardest Thing

She followed me
Out the front door
Insisting
I be the first
To break
The last eye contact
We would share

An image
I have failed
To drink
From memory

As I drove away
From her
The house
Our cats
And a life
We began together
I wept
Like I never want
To remember

And for once
the voices
Allowed the tears
Without insisting
I act
More like a man