You Left Me Today

(I wrote the first draft in 2003 after my parents visited me in Scotland. Here it is revised.)

Typical weather.
As if to send you off
in true Glasgow style -
there was a brilliant sun
low in the blue winter sky,
patches of dark cloud,
chilly rain and burning light.

As I walked away alone,
I looked back
for one last glimpse of you,
but you were gone.

Instead of you, a rainbow
stretched from my feet in a complete ring,
encompassing the airport, planes, and sky.

Like an omen.

I worried that it meant
that this would have been
our last goodbye.
I am not ready.
I will never be ready.

I would like to believe
that it was a promise...
a comforting sign
from a God who loves love,
and longs for an end to goodbyes.

But all I know for sure is that
you left me today.