Nicolas Greenwood

Absence

For some reason I do not know
Your hand slipped away from my own
It slipped away without a word
In silence, I was left alone.

I asked the stars to tell me why
From a life your presence had graced
You faded away so softly
To a city so distant placed;

They replied not a word at all
I was left flying through their light
On a field wet with starlit dew
In a dream with no end in sight.

My tears fell into a river
It caried them down to the sea
There in that tomb of mankind’s tears
To billow for eternity.

Then in the wind I heard your voice
Not a word — alas — just a moan
A sweet-breathed whisper on my face
Though the night from a land unknown.

I felt your touch in the cold gusts
Your presence borne upon its wings
Filling my chest with shards of you
A sculpture made of broken things.

I embraced that sweet empty place
A spirit made of thoughts of you
For one short night, before the time
To vanish, once again, was due.

Absence

About This Poem

This is a tribute to all those I’ve had to leave behind as well as a reflection on the nature of memory and how memories, no matter how beautiful or vivid, can never replace seeing those we love and think of the most in real life.

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