The presence of your absence
Walks with me today
Every cell of my body
Aches and wanted you to stay

I feel paralyzed, suspended
As if half of me is gone
But my thoughts persist and tell me
To survive, I must walk on

This path is not mapped out
No signposts point the way
Though others have walked before me
Their footprints have washed away

My mirror shows a different face
Of whom I cannot say
The person that I was before
Went away with you that day

The presence of your absence
Walks beside me every day
On a journey through the darkest night
I try to find my way

My view from this new window
Of the world’s forever changed
The person that I was before
Will never be the same



©Diane E. Dockum
10-18-2021