Ex-In-Laws

When one of your children divorces,
your in-laws seem to vanish from the earth.
But the same people with whom you laughed,
hugged, ate dinners, and yes loved are still there.

Should you follow your child’s lead and fall
out of love too? Can you just flip a switch?
Should you delete their cell numbers,
unfriend them on Facebook, ignore their texts?
If you see them on the street, do you dart into an
entryway? Or should you cling on to them
like a shy child grabs their mother’s skirts?

What comes next? New relationships?
Talk of marriage? Blended families?
Will the streams of past and present
be forever immiscible or merge in harmony
to flow faster, stronger, and deeper?