How to Break Your Heart

 Stand here.  Now watch: first he’ll go into the house,
and it’ll flicker, faintly, like the reel’s missing
a few frames.  This is when you start to wonder
if you’ve forgotten, maybe, that you’re sleeping:
he’s always been so goddamn real in your dreams. 
Not that the lines were clear, in any case. 
And can you blame him?  Upstairs, a window
opens.  That’s your heart, dropping to the sidewalk,
just seconds before the cops beat the door in. 
When he comes back out, he’ll be with Joe, scowling,
and walk by like he doesn’t recognize you.
But when they get to the corner, he’ll turn,
stricken, like it’s all just come clear to him, too.
That’s it.  Go ahead, breathe. How do you feel?