Flight Risk

Photo by Camila Cordeiro on Unsplash

He said those words –
the ones my ears had been
pricking for all along.

He had not even fully
exhaled after Not. Compatible.
but I’d already started

running

afraid to hear any

further syllable.

I covered my ears and ran

for years.

Only now, five years later
have I slowed to a stop
to look over my shoulder
in case
he might be following
to deliver the rest of

a final sentence.