Together and away

We learned so much together,
you and I,
both together and away.

Together we learned
the beauty of deepest love,
most fervent devotion,
of passioned hands grasping
whatever fold of sheets
hadn't yet been rolled away,
of idle kisses just to pass
the warm hazy summers,
the fiery harvest moons.

Away, two parts of a whole,
we learned just as much of the world,
how when someone runs over
breathless
panicked
yelling frantic fuck-all
about some choking girl
asking if I know the Heimlich
that my immediate response
can actually be
"Depends. Who?"