Howard Firkin
Sex took sabbatical when it was due;
she threw a few things in a cabin bag,
wrote ‘No Address’ upon the luggage tag,
found the departure gate and sauntered through.
When Sex decides to make a break, it’s clean.
Sabbatical is not vacation. Sex
applied herself with passion to her tasks
to ask the questions no one ever asks,
and test assumptions no one ever checks.
Sex is a well-oiled, cerebral machine.

For those of us left standing at the gate,
who wave goodbye while praying for return,
it turns out love ’s a long, hard wait—
the hardest lesson Sex would have me learn.