I take five steps and I look back,

I don’t see anybody but I feel the push,

I take five more steps and then six,

I take seven and eight,

I take nine then twelve,

I look back to see you, I feel you and so you must be there.

I feel the pull,

Thirteen, fifteen, twenty.

Twenty too many.

You are there, you body as rugged as I left it.

Your expression as bare as I left it.

And still I must go,

Twenty seven,

Sixty two,

I look back to see you barren in the distance.

Finally being merged with the background, I can imagine you slowly fading into the brush.

Ninety and then a thousand steps.

You are replaced with a feeling of acknowledgement. A feeling of trust. A feeling of fortitude. The feeling of loyalty.

I can see my partner now for as they are,

I know that I must leave because I know how it will end.

I know what loyalty looks like, I haven’t found it yet.