His Business Trips

He’s got his business trips

And I’ve got my hotel weekends

Two days an hour outside of town

With room service

And a pile of books

I never read
You and I
Me and you
The two of us
Just us
Just me

Together

Tours of houses

Nobody’s lived in for centuries

And libraries

Divorced from museums

He’s got his business trips

And you’ve got your cooking classes

And your wine and painting nights

And your massage therapy

And your fancy luggage

For trips to places

You keep saying you’ll go

When he gets back

From his business trips

You’ve got your kids

And your friend’s kids

And your grandkids

And your pets

And the neighbor’s dog

And the neighbor’s plants

And your plants

And millions and millions

Of things to take care of

And watch over

And he’s got his business trips

You’ve got a lost cat

To locate

The posters are stuck on

Every pole

In a seven-block radius

You’re good

At finding lost things

And, sure enough

You find the cat

Behind a McDonald’s

Sitting happily next to a dumpster

So happily, in fact

That you almost regret

Having to return him

To the little boy

He belongs to

You’ve got coffee to make

And cakes to bake

And bakeries to visit

Where you sit

While it rains

And pretend you’re waiting

For a friend to show up

And have coffee with you

Look at your messages

And see a ‘Miss you, hon’
In your inbox

See several ‘Miss you, hon’'s

In your inbox

And wonder if he’s just

Copying and pasting at this point

Hear one of your friends

One of your more outrageously predictable friends

Suggest

That maybe he’s having affairs

While he’s away

On these business trips

And the truth is--

You wish he was

Because that, at least

Would be a reason to leave

Or consider leaving

The truth is, unfortunately

A lot less interesting

He just...enjoys the trips

He enjoys being away from you

And you from him

And the only thing

Standing in the way

Of full-on happiness

For the both of you

Is the fact that

Eventually

He has to come home

Return

From his business trips

And the anticipation of that return

Is enough to kill the joy

You both feel

When he’s away

He has his business trips

But you, you also

Have his business trips

When you don’t

When he’s home

When he’s sitting right there

On the couch with you

Looking at you like--

Well, what now?

You feel like at any minute

He’s going to run out the door

And never come back

And the thought of that

Doesn’t upset you

But the thought of it maybe happening

Rather than definitely happening

Sends you into a deep, deep languishing remorse

He has his business trips

And you have what you do

While he’s on his business trips

And the clock has the clock

And the luggage has the luggage

And the bed sits made

While the days fall off the calendar

He’s away

He’s away

He’s away

And neither one of you

Is coming back