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.