OTHER VOICES IN THE ROOM –
The absence of –.
The hours pass.
Artificial sound becomes
A crutch of sorts
In the waiting rooms
In this house of ours
Where you are not –.
Where you are no more
Yet are
So much here –.
You are here with me
In the echoes of my thoughts
And my footsteps on the stairs.
You are behind me
With your hand on the
Small of my back
As we climb to our bed
And listen to
Bedtime stories on the 
Artificial app,
And as we drift off to sleep
Those other voices in the room
Fade into the absence of your
Body and 
The hours pass.

©Diane E. Dockum
Thursday, June 9th, 2022