It felt like failure and it felt like goodbye,

the close of the car door with girl leaving the boy

and the wind around the corner carried no discharged leaves,

the grey cloud hovered but the sky suspended rain,

with regular momentum the evergreen was shaking

as everything around them remained just the same.

But the girl left the boy and the girl walked away,

the humm of the engine with the purr of the air,

the rustle of the fir behind the throb of the car,

the motorway's rumble heard from afar

and a small solitary plane's heavy thrum through the air,

And the boy drove off while the girl stood there,

and the street stayed the same, the empty crisp packet wedged in the drain,

undisturbed dustbins hugging the walls,

anonymous front doors closed on cold empty halls,

The boy had already left when the girl stepped indoors.