Sometimes when I think about you it makes me feel a bit sick

I don’t blame you for leaving me
I see your new boyfriend around sometimes
he seems nice,
always says hello
and I think he'll make you happy,
when I nodded when you said let's keep in touch

I meant it.
You said any clothes you’d left at the house
could go to the charity shop
and the lady in Barnados beamed such a smile
when I walked in with a bin bag under each arm.
I took every DVD we ever watched together to the man on the market
sold them for a pound each and made enough
to buy a new pair of trousers

that are really comfy.
I don’t even mind sleeping alone.
I never got used to being woken by you grinding your teeth
and setting the alarm for six every morning.
And when you returned your key
you could have just dropped it through the letter box
but you didn’t, you rang the bell,
came upstairs
told me about your day
checked your emails like you still lived here,
poured yourself a glass of wine

and didn’t mention that I was drinking alone.
And when you made me promise to keep the house tidy
to Toilet Duck the U-bend
and regularly scrub the hob
for some reason I didn’t feel patronised, I just thought

being with you was the best thing
that ever happened to me.
And I do try to keep the house clean
and I do take out the recycling every second Monday
and I do water our plants
and I do forward your post
and I do know I’ll meet someone new

and that there’s no rush
and I do hope your new boyfriend makes you happy
but sometimes when I think about you
it makes me feel a bit sick.