(p. 50) “My Husband before Leaving,” 12th century India (trans. J. Moussaieff Masson & W.S. Merwin)
My husband
before leaving on a journey
is still in the house speaking
to the gods and already
separation is climbing like
bad monkeys to the windows.
I think “clmbing like bad monkeys to the windows” is a very good picture of what it feels like when someone is about to leave you—that panicky, ratcheting up of worry and oncoming loneliness.
