before, during, after: the fact

there's no
breaking the habit
of breaking hearts
when your voice
is the first hit
of subzero air
assaulting lungs
and tears a like.
and there's
disbelief in my eyes
as i glance at the
words you spill onto
a useless and barren
screen.
you want to
fly 'round the world
without ever
having to leave
the ground
and you're sitting there
thinking
that intelligence grows
and glows and gleams
through wire rims
but you've merely
made yourself into
a spectacle -
the kind you used to scoff at.
you think that you're climbing
higher and higher
but what you're not seeing
is that you're in
a free fall
and you left your
parachute back here
with me
and who you used to be.