09/21/25 A New Somonka for a New Day

Photo Credit: Christian Lue

You left me behind
I was always by your side
But you walked away
Now there’s no one to lean on
As I pick up the pieces

I was there for you
Each time that you needed me
But it was too much
I couldn’t keep going like that
I just needed it to end

This is my attempt at a Somonka, a Japanese style that is two tanka poems back to back. Often it is two love letters, but here they express their “love” through the pain of a breakup.

This was my original version, but later in the day, I rewrote the second stanza to the one above:

You left me behind
I was always by your side
But you walked away
Now there’s no one to lean on
As I pick up the pieces

We wouldn’t have lasted
We were just sinking slowly
Grasping each other
I had to end it before
Either of us got too hurt