i see no acuter quite.

your departure

has wrung my body

of tears

like a wet dish towel.

your sadness

has weighed on my being

like a foot

pressing down

on my brain.

your life

has cluttered my thoughts

with questions

like a web so tangled

it's opaque.

but it's not

like

anything.

it is, you were, now you aren't.

i never even knew you;

i struggle to picture your face

or hear your voice

or place you in a filled room.

i feel your presence, though.

i feel it in me,

(the intensity, the love, the compassion, the will, the drive)

and it terrifies me.

for the world

will always be too much with us

and i will always want to carry it,

just as i am trying to carry you on.

DLS