(...)

(…)

I can say your beauty will never perish.
The air you breathe, that I still cherish
By my side, for one final night’s rest
Where I feel myself the uninvited guest
In the home we no longer share,
Now so strange with the shadows there:
Self-slaying shadows where once you lay—
Shadows that haunt me in the light of day.

And you stared into the distance as I wept.
My heart you left—my tears you kept
I prayed for you to hold me as you never would,
I longed for you to love me as you never could.
And if I ever sleep, just to see you again,
I will keep no memory of this pain.
I will dream of what always will be
The love for you that smiles inside me.

The tears you have taken from my bones
Will not make you stay—our separate homes
Are so far, so far away from one another.
But I would stay if you wanted a lover.
So stainless as you remain in my eyes
Though to your stains, my heart replies
With a wish that you will cleanse me
That I may sleep soundly,
Dreaming of what was, and what may be.

© 2021 Marten Hoyle