broken bikes

of names

he never learned her name

not in the two years that he knew her,

not in the two months that he slept with her,

not even in the two weeks that he loved her

and maybe that was why

she left him without warning,

but he knew she had gone,

the moment he opened his eyes the next day,

because her shoes weren't by the bed

she always left them there

but she had known his name from the start,

throughout the two years that she knew him,

throughout the two months that she slept with him,

and especially throughout the two weeks that she loved him

that was why

she left him in her wake,

to pick up the shattered remains

of their haphazard relationship

because she had never even known love

and yet,

she knew his name

in the end,

she was just afraid

of love,

and of what knowing his name could mean