Distance of Goodbye

Your coat still hangs by the door

Like it might change its mind

I found your note in the kitchen drawer

Folded twice, like a prayer

You said you needed open country

I only heard you were not there

Now every road out of this town

Feels like it starts at our old chair

Is it one more mile past mercy

Or the length of one last call

I keep measuring the silence

But I cannot find the wall

How far does a goodbye go

Past the porch, past the county line

Does it keep on taking pieces

Or leave one piece behind

How far does a goodbye go

When your name still feels like mine

Your sister asked if I was sleeping

I lied and said I was

The calendar keeps turning over

Like paper always does

But Friday still wears your blue sweater

And Sunday saves your cup

How far does a goodbye go

Past the porch, past the county line

Does it keep on taking pieces

Or leave one piece behind

How far does a goodbye go

When your name still feels like mine

Maybe leaving has no border

Maybe love just learns to thin

Maybe I am not behind you

I am learning where I begin

How far does a goodbye go

Maybe only till I let you go

Past the ache and the empty room

Past the life we used to know

How far does a goodbye go

Tonight, I am walking home How far does

a goodbye go Not as far as dawn