This poem is the result of the breakup of my marriage. Overcoming the loss of a love is a painful process, but one we can learn from. This piece describes but a fraction of the feelings experienced at this loss.

This poem originally was published in Sad Poems - Sad Love Poems

To Watch You Leaving
To Watch You Leaving . . .

is to know such pain, it's jagged edges tearing into my soul. As a stake from the garden tears into the warm, dark earth.

To Watch You Leaving . . .

knowing all the while that never again will I fit myself, warm with sleep, against your solid back.

Nor hear your steady breathing. Or feel the beating of your heart.

To Watch You Leaving . . .

aware in every moment of every day that my dreams, my future; once tied with silken ribbons to yours, will never come to be.

And the mornings once so silent and hopeful, us gazing at the mountains and so gently awaiting forever - are now but small pieces of my past.

To Watch You Leaving . . .

your heart a tight fist of anger and your dry eyes betraying nothing of you. I cry for both of us, my love, because you will not.

To Watch You Leaving . . .

is to know that I've lost my place on this earth. My station. My heart's home. That I will wander, forever a nomad. Alone and afraid. And in my troubled dreams watch you leave, again and again.

For the balance of my days.
166 Visitor Comments (from the Voting form)
  • Stacy
    This poem has truly touched my heart. I loved it!
  • shokozuki
    this poem really touched it reminds of the day my girl left me,i really enjoyed it keeeppp it up write more.
  • Jessica
    Jocelyn, I thought your poem was great. I could really relate to almost every word written.
  • Rita
    Wonderful Poem - It happened in my life - I know all about it
  • kristen
    this poem was a total insperation to me this is exactly how i feel after breaking up with my boyfriend of 5 years. there is no better way that i can put my thought and feelings into words! thank you!
  • shan
    i really liked this poem because its hard for me to watch my mum have to make such a mess of her life and have to leave to another town. When she got kicked out of my nana and grandads house i saw her before she left the tears were swelling up in her eyes and when she left it hit me my mum is going. i have the choice to go with her but if i do i know i wont make much of my life. and to see her life just get worse is really sad. this poem has explained exactly how i feel.
  • ann
    i love your poem. it makes me cry. continued to post very soul searching poems.
  • Stephanie
    This made me cry this is how i feel knowing my love will never be agian because we feel in love and we said things we should have never said to one another and i hate that i cant feel him anymore W/E
  • Himani
    What a wonderful poems is this.
  • Pam
    In searching for written words that could possibly express, or even come close to describing the pain that I have suffered in the past 4 1/2 years, I read your poem and sobbed. It is as though you have lived my experience or something equally as tragic. It is so real--just gutwrenching.
  • Stacey
    Wonderfully well written; hurt me to read it, even though I have been happily re-married for over 7 years now, and my own painful divorce was 12 years previously. This really made me feel for the author - hope to see more from you, and hope she is doing well.
  • Margie
    This poem is so beautiful. It captures what I am feeling right now because my husband recently left me. The pain can be unbearable. And you do relive it in your dreams every night.
  • Day
    Awesome
  • Nikki
    that is the story of my life. my love life anyways. thanks for writing it.
  • nida
    its just simply great
  • Nakeisha
    I like this very much and hope that you are not going through this right now!
  • Unknown
    This poem reminds me about my X Boyfriend that i really love until now. It was 2 years ago wen we broke up but i cant still get over with him,=c
  • katie
    i've been divorced 25 years from a man who walked out of my life. In time we became best friends. he died 2 yrs. ago,and i miss him so much. The poem just brought it back.
  • Kathy
    Jocelyn, I know exactly how you feel. it's a gut wrenching, heartbreaking experience. I hope you are doing well. Kathy
  • Tanzi
    This poem was very beautiful and made me cry, because I have watched the only man I ever truly loved leave. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
  • kirsty
    This poem is lovely but tragic. very poignant. last verse especially.
  • S
    I love this poem!
  • John
    I wish I could save you from your wandering. I wish I could save the both of us. Well done.
  • smurnuff
    this is the deepest poem i read in a while!
  • shelley
    This poem touched my heart as it is so reminiscent of my own loss. He was and still is the love of my life. Three years later, I still cry.
  • CHRIS
    THIS POEM WAS DEEP,KEEPIN IT REAL
  • hot
    i love it
  • nicole
    wow i really feel that right now because of a high school love you must move on but sometimes you cant stop forgetting the memories of him holding you. that helped me so much today. i sometimes feel like moving on but right now i just want to be alone. i have written so many poems like that, but yours was the best. i guess what i am trying to say is thank you for not leaving me hanging alone. broken hearts heal together.
  • stephanie
    this was excellent best one yey thank you
  • Barbara
    I wish I had the talent of putting feelings into words like you do.
  • Sophia
    THIS POEM IS REALLY GOOD! GOING THROUGH A HEARTACHE IS HARD AND I AM RIGHT NOW! SO THIS POEMS REALLY TOUCHED ME! ITS GREAT!
  • Amal
    NICE,its just touched my heart. And this poem it reminds me of my self
  • Mycol
    This poem is very good becouse is absolutely very true and make me cry.
  • Amanda
    I like this poem because it reminds me when one of my boyfriends left me and i was just standing there waiting for him to come back but he never did and reading that poem reminded me of that pain . But i think that is good just because it is good sometimes to be reminded of what you dont want anymore
  • Dawn
    Wow. I loved this poem. This totally depicts my situation right now. and it does hurt so badly, like nothing I have ever felt before in my life. Its a beautiful poem. thank you Dawn
  • rebecca
    i am just going through a bad break up this was right on. thak you for such a good poem.
  • Jennifer
    This peom made me feel so much it remines me of my best friends boyfriend leaving.
  • cheora
    I loved this poem. It really relates to my life
  • Kira
    This poem touched my heart it kinda reminds me of my father leaving me about 5 months ago and now i will never see him again unless to visit. This is how I feel and I thank you for such a touching feeling you have given me!;)Kira 11/03/05
  • d
    I cry for you and am sorry for I feel your pain and the love you still must feel for your ex wife.
  • mai der
    oh my gosh. this peom touched my heart so deep. i cried. it is so sad.
  • james
    that is good i like it is so sad
  • Jesus
    Let just say I started get heart broken. Just imaginaing my future wife leaving me is like the end of my world.
  • Flash (john)
    could identify with this. well composed!
  • ANN
    VERY DEEP EMOTIONAL FULL OF MEANING AND SADNESS I GIVE THIS POEM FOUR STARS
  • LOLO
    its a beautiful poem that capures the sadness u felt it brought tears to my eyes.
  • Frederic
    Man , this poem made me cry the minut after i read it . Reminds how had it is too lose someone.
  • emma
    very touching and moving. well done! good use of words and movement all the way through. fantastic!
  • tony
    i think this is a realy deep poem cause i to know what it's like to lose ur love and i just went throw the same things the writer of this poem did so i leave this sayin this is one of the deepest poems i ever read
  • Kayley
    This poem particularly touched me as i have just come out of a 5 year relationship. it was poignant and i could relate to every word. Well written!
  • loney
    I think this poem is GREAT! It makes you think of lost loves never to be found again. I think you should keep writing you have a flare for it!
  • bluedecember
    I stumbled on this website quite by accident, but paused because I am nearing the end of my divorce. Thank you, Jocelyn for the poem. I cried for awhile after reading it; not realizing how much I needed to do so.
  • Michelle
    My heart bleeds for you, i only say this because when i felt this way, no one's heart beld for me. So i will bleed for someone else, i hope u find a person that treats u well
  • Muzic
    This poem touched me. I went through a really hard break up. and It left me mangled and in tears. Just reading this i felt your pain. Keep Writting! -Alone-
  • Gary
    This poem is all the emotions that are felt when you see you beloved leave. I have just lost mine to nothing. To lose someone to someone else is hard but for them to chose nothing over been with you is hard. I hurt, i ache i cry and i'm lonely and this poem captures everything that i feel, every dream i have and every thought that touches my every emotion. Thankyou for letting me really see that i'm not alone. Thankyou.
  • stacey
    I loved the poem me and my boy are breaking up after 3 years and he hasnt shed a single tear
  • kishen
    i love it make me cry. and iam a guy
  • Chris
    Thanks, this described all of my feelings about losin the love of my life
  • Taylor
    Thats was great. That really tuched my heart. Keep up the good work!
  • Pat
    Very touching. Well composed
  • Sam
    This poem was spectacular, need I say more.
  • Kirsty
    This poem really touched my heart! I could feel what the poet was feeling and it really moved me.
  • Sarah
    this poem was really good, i cryed, thinking of past boyfriends who didnt care about me
  • stacy
    what can i say but wow! my boyfriend, who i love with all i have, recently broke up with me. this poem says everything that my heart has felt over the past couple of weeks
  • Rhya
    I loved this poem because this is exactly how I have been feeling about the love who walked out.
  • kinx
    this poem described my emotions exactly the way i wish i could explain them. very touching.
  • Erin
    I think this was a very good poem and i can empathize with it.
  • April
    When I read this poem I started crying. My boyfriend just broke up with me after one happy year together. Our love came to a heartbraking hault. I cried for nights and I am still crying. It just reminds me of myself, and him so much. I really loved it.
  • hope
    The poem penned is so touching that it brougt tears in my eyes and i could myself relate to the feelings conveyed as iam going through a phase where we love each other great deal but would have part ways due to circumstances he wants to evade. he had to make two choices and he has chosen his family. i still love him inspite of what he had to do.
  • sunayana
    reading the poem was like reading about my feelings. it was simple,but it said it all. love pains but its is worth it
  • Krystal
    I AM ONLY 17 YRS. OLD BUT LIKE MANY OTHER GIRLS I HAVE BEEN PLANNING AND THINKING ABOUT MY WEDDING SICE I WAS 7!THIS POEM RELLY WOKE ME UP AND MADE ME REALIZE THAT I DONT WANT TO RUSH INTO ANYTHING, BECAUSE I NEVER WANT TO GO THROUGH THAT. THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION!
  • Heather
    Oh my god, what a beautiful poem, and it found me at the very second in my life that I needed to send it to someone. you spoke my soul, and that is rare in my life. Tearing up painfully, Heather
  • erika
    When i read this i want to cry knowing that this is so true in my case now there might be a chanes we will be together again but right now all i can do is let my mind wonder what will happen if we are never together again and all the nights we have been apart i just cry
  • Jennifer
    I think this poem is a very insightful and accurate description of what if feels like to go through the break up of a marriage - I know this all too well, because I went through(and still go through) those exact same feelings over a year ago. Thank you for expressing those feelings in a truly amazing poem.
  • Nadia
    This poem really touched my heart. It is exactly how I feel.
  • Scott
    This poem makes me sad because it reminds me of my gf that left for spain 2 months ago.
  • rachel
    i have been reading through the poems and this one made me cry as i had to leave my love at the airport because i had to move to a differnte country these are the thoughts that ran through my head and still today
  • anne
    This is the best poem I have read as of yet and I know it will stay the best because I truly appreciate the last stanza. It is heart-breaking but entertaining at the same time.
  • barbara
    This poem absolutely is the way i feel
  • jessica
    i think this poem is sweet, and it is good how someone can think like and write how they feel!
  • Lee
    Great Job, not under the best circumstances though, but still a nicely done poem i should say
  • terry
    finally, i found a poem that would somehow explain the depth of the emotion i'm feeling right now. tahnk you. god bless your love lives.
  • Ashley
    i enjoyed your poem and felt it very touching and hope you continue to write your wonderful poetry because in my eyes you have a great talent. good luck with your writing!
  • Angela
    This poem made me cry, because I know exactly how it feels to have someone you love so much just up and walk awway from it. It's heart-shattering. I relive the day my husband left me every single night that I fall asleep whether I want to or not. It haunts my every dream and sometimes it even does it during the day when I'm not really trying to think at all. I just hope that some day I can get over him and find someone that wants to love me as much as I loved him.
  • Deepa
    Its like u r speaking from inside me. My bf left me one month ago. he didnot cry. i begged him not to leave me. i left my house and relocated for him. but he left me and flew from this country. did not repent even a while. these are my feelings right at this moment
  • craig
    Wow. This poem really struck home. My wife informed me yesterday that it's over. And I tried putting my own feelings to paper, but, as is usually the case when hurting, nothing sounded right. If I had been coherent enough, this would have been the kind of poem my soul was writing. Thank you. This was a wonderful poem.
  • Nikki
    As I read this poem the tears stream down my cheek. It eally captures the pain i am feeling over the lost of my relationship with him. The word are beautiful and let's me know that someone else has felt such pain. It gives me hope that i can get past my hurt.
  • MTh.
    I couldnt say anything, since suddenly i found my self burst in tears. your poem is great. it's show your bitterness honestly without pretending but so touching
  • Mz BlOnDe
    i loved ur poem it was bewtaful i just broke up with my boyfriend today and although we hung out all day it was so awful to be with him but not actually be his girlfriend and to think that someone else is going to get the chance to touch him and love him and although hes still in my life he not going to be the part of it i want him to be n i hate loving him when he dosent love me back and crying because he dosent and it kills me inside because i cant change what happened and your poem just realy helped me. Mz Blonde
  • Elaine
    I'm still in pain over some that left a year and a half ago. And no matter how many people tell me to go one with my life to let go of the past I just well, this poem hit me . cause I can still watch him leave in my mind every single day
  • michelle
    This poem was great because I could feel the pain of the person in the poem. That it almost made me cry!
  • Cathy
    I love this poem. I can really relate to this feeling. thanks alot
  • robyn
    i really like the way this poem follows it really brings into my world like something new. it really touches me when i read it.
  • Memories
    I love this poem one of my favorates cause thats what I'm going through
  • Tiffany
    To Watch You Leaving . . . knowing all the while that never again will I fit myself, warm with sleep, against your solid back. Nor hear your steady breathing. Or feel the beating of your heart. - exactly
  • shandee
    I HAVE NOTHING BUT TEARS FALLING DOWN MY FACE RIGHT NOW! EVERY WORD IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M FEELING THROUGH MY BREAK UP NOW. YOU KNOW, THERE ARE SO MANY FEARS IN THIS POEM. SO MANY OF THE FEARS THAT KEPT ME FROM LEAVING HIM FOR SO LONG, SO MANY LONELY FEELINGS THAT MAKE A WOMAN WANT TO GO BACK JUST TO HEAR HIS HEART BEAT, JUST TO FEEL HIS SOLID BACK AGAINST YOUR BODY. THE BODY THAT MADE YOU FEEL SO SECURE AT ONE TIME, THE ONE YOU COULDN'T LET GO OF. THEN I REMEMBER THAT MEMORIES AND WISHFUL THINKING ARE ALL I HAVE LEFT. SUCH A TOUCHING POEM! WOW! KEEP WRITING, BRING ON THE TEARS, HA-HA.
  • kay
    touching poem hope one day love will come true and someday i hope love will finally have an answer to it and why its realy their in the mean time we have to make do with the pain that us girls just keep on having from the broken hearts from fights times that went wrong hope love one day comes true xxxxxkay
  • Christy
    I reaaly understand this poem because that is how I feel at this exact moment.
  • broken heart
    when i read ur poem my tears came down knowing that my bf will never cry for me if we brake apart, in these hard times that we are having at the moment. i fell unloved by him
  • Vicky
    I loved this, it expressed the way in which separation can be so complicated. Touched every corner of my heart, totally accurate. Fantastic work!
  • Genette
    This poem was absolutly beautiful!
  • Olivia
    I really love this poem. Losing someone you love is one of the hardest things to cope with. I've been going through with it for about a year now and my feelings have not changed. Its rough.
  • Julie
    Going thru a divorce myself, this rings so very painfully true. Thank you, Jocelyn.
  • laura
    this is the perfect poem I have read so far ,it helps me come to terms with my pain. I was so happily engage mths ago and now my fiancee says he has fallen out of love,so we are moving on.
  • Angeica
    this is sad and beutiful!
  • Becky
    OMG, I cried when I read this. My marriage is going thru a rough time and I have been living in this for the past week. Excellent work!
  • Isobel
    I love this poem, I have lived this poem many times in my life. Thank you for putting into words, what I could not.
  • Tammy
    This poem expressed a lot of what I felt when my husband walked out after four short months and I didn't have a clue it was going to happen.
  • sarah
    i loved it because it was how i felt when me and my fiance broke up. i was riped a part. you let me know that i'm no the only one that feels that way
  • Elisa
    take care! a lot of hugs
  • Heather
    I really loved this poem. I found it by looking up sad peoms while me and my boyfriend were fighting. It really made me cry and it was so beautiful.
  • Ashley
    That is the amazing poem I have ever read by a relatively unknown author. Incredible!
  • Thuy
    This poem really makes me want to cry. I love it!
  • beth
    your poem speaks very true words that truely touched mt heart.
  • Amber
    Brought tears to my eyes. Seeing is how my boyfriend is leaving me today. He is packing right now. I love this poem. It talks from the heart, it got mine.
  • Jessica
    I'm just starting the painful process of trying to move on after recently ending a 3 year relationship. Though I have a supportive people to lean on, I can't help but feel somewhat isolated b/c of the roller coaster of emotions I'm dealing with. Thanks Jocelyn for writing a beautiful poem that exactly describes some of the painful truths I'm having to accept and letting go of.
  • josie
    i just wanna say what a wkd poem its so true to life!
  • shell
    omg i love this poam!
  • Katie
    Beautiful. Just a clean and well developed piece of art. By far one of the best I have come across in a long while. Brilliant.
  • laura
    perfectly said. especially about watching it over and over again. So true.
  • Paul
    I believe this poem has a level of substance and quality that sets it above at least 95% of the poems posted here.
  • Nikki
    Such an amazing poem. It touched my heart. Such talent.
  • Carol
    What a beautiful poem So sad when someone leaves and someone is left behind. Awsome! I love the title too!
  • Snow
    You poem brought tears to my heart and eyes. I have not been so moved by written words as I have been yours. I feel your pain. Thank you for sharing
  • Teresa
    i love this poem. it remindes me of my old relationship.
  • Miss
    ThankYou For A Truth Of Life .
  • Joy
    This was a wonderful poem,it fits my life.
  • C
    You took my breath away and opened a floodgate of tears. Thank you for such an exquisite rendering of the exact state of my being.
  • kbt
    i really loved this. "to cry for both of us, because you will not" was my particularly favorite line. i really empathized with the last section. of feeling lost. of feeling so the rest of my days. this was the first that moved me to tears. so know it reached into my soul and moved me.
  • Steph
    This is just absolutely beautiful
  • Amanda
    I really liked this poem because it reminded me of my dad. I thhink this poem was sad because I watched him leave.
  • Jocelyn
    That was a great poem! My name is Jocelyn too! Arent all Jocelyn's great thinkers?
  • krist
    i loved you poem. it brought tears to my eyes bcuz i understand what u were trying to say! not long ago my bf left me for another girl adn it was the hardest thing i have ever had to do. watch him leave! but now iam back to my normal self! and very glad! SO GOOD JOB!
  • Susi
    Wonderful YOU have been where I am!
  • Dianne
    to capture these feelings and express them in words as you have done is a rare gift, thankyou for sharing this special gift, a truly beautiful and heartfelt poem
  • Cee
    Beautiful and meaningful poem. A standing ovation to the writer
  • Ashley
    I love you poem because that is how i felt when my ex boyfriend leave me and now i am back with myself
  • kelly
    I THOUGHT IT WAS A WONDERFUL POEM AND I CRIED WHEN I READ IT.
  • Leo
    was simply heartbreaking.thought it was beautifully said..
  • Kirsti
    This is a beautiful poem! Watching the person you love walk out of your life forever is one of the hardest obstacles that life throws our way. You've captured the pain that it brings, with such intensity, and touched my heart. I've been there, and it's tough. Hang in there, lets hope with time it'll get better!
  • Ron
    Perfect.
  • Michael
    This poem is true to my heart. I sympathize in that i feel i always cry for both me and my love as she does not and it pains me so. Absolutely beautiful poem.
  • Nikki
    I think that your poem is beautiful. And it descibes in every word and detail exactly how I am feeling. EXCELLENT work Jocelyn
  • SUSAN
    exactly how it feels.even now.
  • Gail
    This poem was my story and so beautifully spoken. I feel a kindred spirit with her pain becuase it is my pain as wellI
  • Luoise
    That was amazing, I felt every word like it was an action. I was looking over some sad poems to get inspired for a certain scene I'm writting for my novel, this poem was perfect in every way. Wonderfully done.
  • kristyn
    l love this poem. l also love the tilte, it sort of brought tears to my eyes!
  • angel
    This poem is so touching i just cried
  • brandy
    This is the best poem I have read in a while. I can relate so much to what you wrote. I'm in tears.
  • BARBARA
    THIS IS A VERY GOOD POEM. IT HAD VERY GOOD WORDING AND IT TOUCHED MY HEART..
  • Monique
    First, I would like to say that I am really touched by this particular poem. Reading it felt like you were with me the entire time of my past relationship and decided to write about me. Even though it's not, but to me it feels like you truly feel my pain.
  • Nancy
    Great Poem!!
  • deanna
    i loved this poem.it reminded me of me just a short while ago when me and my boyfriend broke-up
  • Ron
    One of the most "true to life" descriptions, of how a soul feels upon losing someone in a relationship.
  • Nicole
    Heart-wrenching. To read such pain so explicitly defined. I can sympathize, and rejoice... for I have felt exactly this... but could never put it into words. My hats off to the wonderful writer.
  • Lady
    Your poem hit home with me. I have wrote many poems, but never could I accurately describe in words how it truely felt. You hit it right on the head. Thank you for sharing your poetry. It is inspiring.
  • Wendy
    I loved it! It just makes me realize how precious our time is...and how sacred relationships can be. Thanks for sharing!
  • Mike
    Awsome!!!
  • Steve
    I being a serious poet myself, I couldn't help but to like and relate to this poem. It's definatly a poem worth reading over and over again...
  • Shirley
    This is exactly how I feel. I cried when I read it. It's a wonderful poem.
  • Kaegan
    OMG ...WoW...what a great poem! So touching...the words ilict such emtions and feeling. Bravo, good job!
  • kathy
    A poem that truly comes from the heart....poignantly expresses the feelings and pain of experiencing the final breathes of a love lost. Tears streamed down my face as I remembered.......
  • Lynn
    At this time, my world is falling apart..just as the words in this poem..God will the pain ever ease just a little? Thank you so much for this poem..it says all that is in my heart, what is left of it.
  • Tammy
    What a dramatic poem about loss, I to can feel every ounce of the writers pain as I have been through it as well. This poem says all that can be said about the pain of divorce or loss of an endearing relationship.
  • Sur
    lost love is not easy ..i've been there and feel it even now.
  • Robert
    It's a great Poem. Congratulation

All Visitor Comments on this poem have been posted by people who wanted to let the author know the poem touched their hearts. If you would like to leave a comment of your own, please Vote for this poem.