So effortlessly we miss what
We never knew. We feel the absence
Of something much more than
We ever felt its presence.

The onset of winter has
Aged my skin; I know it will
Regain its youth as the trees
Regain theirs, but in the
Seedy light of my bedside lamp
It is a reminder of the way
My hands once expressed my
Sadness and solitude.

Looking back, I wonder how
I kept going through those
Years of emptiness. The patience
I learned may be a mixed blessing,
But I can at least be glad
That tomorrow never came.

*
I see the way she ties back
Her hair, and my feet are
Planted on that unforgiving
Roughness again, with the stark
Brick buildings to my left
And one of the least expected
Moments of my life over.

She was but one of the
Absurd number of fictionalised
Versions of girls I believed
I knew and loved, though I could
Never even remember the
Colour of their eyes.

Still, I managed to miss her,
Like an extinct creature I
Had never heard of until
It was gone forever,
A dreamlike reality in which
I could never quite believe.

11/30/2006

Posted on 12/11/2006
Copyright © 2024 Richard Vince