No, it wasn’t the rain
or the sour scent of unwashed wool,
it wasn’t the stinging sound of strangers
making up on mobile phones.
No, it wasn’t tiredness of Netflix binging until 2 AM,
it wasn’t finding coffee stains way too late
to change your shirt.
No, It wasn’t you or me.
It was just the way it happened, and how you know
that afterwards,
is way too late to make amends.
Going to work by L.S. Lowry
For the Tuesday platform at toads with Pat.
Björn Rudbergs writings 
“Afterwards” is too late a time to make those amends — in a busybody existence of work and pleasure, there is nothing else to make for the way it happened.
I really liked, “It wasn’t you or me”, which showcases a certain maturity in acknowledging the cause and the case without any negativity.
I love the first stanza, in how it sets the stage for the acceptance of all of it.
Wonderful, Björn! I love how at first you’re casting around at all these external causes and dismissing them one by one, until you accept that “it’s just the way it happened.”
It would be nice if people let relationships reach this stage, if they were going to, *before* they had children.
When things are well at home, those little annoyances in the outside world are bearable. But when things have reached that too late point, all the bluebirds song and rainbows in the world won’t help.
Too late to make amends…such sad words, too late. gone are the days when more wore waistcoats and that coffee stain could be covered up. Perhaps like many of us, our wrongs are so obvious and nothing we do can hide them.
I love the way you presented the message in this Bjorn! So very true!
Being written in the negative of the common everyday things really makes a big statement. Nicely done.
such an atmospheric poem here – a clear and careful assessment and observation of what unfolds, as it happens, and the realization that sometimes, things are just as they are … and the mysteries of it, of the whys, no longer hold resonance and meaning …. and it’s just about understanding when it’s time to let go … you’ve captured the energy of the frantic and yet the slow dawning of the sadness of it all too – the melancholia ….
and I must say, I really loved how the simplicity of the words are so rich – and wow, did you ever capture that particular idea of “sour” for me, with these lines …
or the sour scent of unwashed wool,
– just a wonderfully evocative poem Bjorn!
(btw, I really enjoyed your black hole-relativity prompt/post – just not up to writing snuff lately)
The hurt is that you were comfortable in the relationship and you have lost something very precious to you. Big sigh as I recall my earlier years! Beautifully written Bjorn.
“Things happen.” This neat, Bjorn, many relationships that I know of ‘just are over.’ In Texas and a lot of U.S. states have “No fault divorce.” You can still get one on a ground for divorce but none is needed. I like to your picture find.
p.s. I haven’t posted for Tuesday Platform. I’m still recovering from Black Holes and Gravity.
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I love this.. the reality of the morning after…so beautifully captured.
A simple but powerful via negativa, Bjorn, imbued with scents and sounds. I also like the stark contrast of ‘strangers making up on mobile phones’ and ‘way too late to make amends’.
How well you describe the little things that add up to a bad day. Love your poetry.