Why Does it Matter?
Virginia Salter

Why?
Why does it matter?
Almost two decades have passed
I don’t want you in my life
I don’t want you

oh, yes, I’ll love you ‘til I die
not with the kind of love that wants you here
only the kind of love through which I care
you’re a part of my history
in a tiny, tiny way you’re still a part of me
you matter to our child
therefore
you matter to me
for her

your life is still worthwhile
I bear no animosity
that’s been gone for quite awhile
I do not pine for your touch
nor for your company

when there’s a chance encounter
you go out of your way to avoid me
to avoid my presence
to avoid my eyes
the only way I know you’re there
our daughter
the product of a love that’s grown cold
old
dead
has seen you
has seen your stealthiness
has seen your furtiveness

why
why does it matter
that you seem to hold such hatred
hatred for my presence
hatred for my looking back at you
is that what it is?
is it a hatred for the space I occupy

or could it merely be
hatred for my ability to see who you are
or some form of guilt you still hold
within you, deep within you

why does it matter?

© June 29,  200