Revised version of a note that I was able to write after sharing beer with a friend and learning about her story. The topic came up because U2's With or Without You started showing on Channel V and she told us the song was playing when they were, finally, going their separate ways.
This note is for 9 years, for a marriage then for zilch, and for anyone who has lost a marriage.
And to you, my friend: life is still good.
Nothing could have been
more apt
than Bono singing who
he couldn't live with,
or without.
After domestic trials
and errors, we
were telling each other,
that hereafter
I shouldn't live with
or without you either.
Nine, it's a magic number,
to count the years we had been
together.
Two, was you and me,
reduced
to me and she.
We were,
just you and I,
bound
by papers signed.
We share,
a last name I
can no longer make use of.