Departed

Tenderness seems to have vacated

Leaving a hollow feeling

Inside

When supports disappear

And the awareness of pain

Reappears

A nasty phantom that haunted

Leaving only emptiness

When we prayed so hard

Thinking relief was finally near

And then distortion and fear

Returned again

To shadow us

Even all my tears

Now seem to have dried

It seems so long since we said goodbye

And I fell through the open space

Your spirit left behind

When the memory of the loss of the comfort of your body

Was all that remained

Made stark by the memories of tenderness

You left behind

Vacated on that hospital bed

After your spirit departed

Now the one who always gave and gave

Is gone

There is only this hollowness

And as I face the next stage

Without you

The sky now sheds my tears

As I remember

Once again

That you have

Gone from here

Even though

With each breath of the wind

I feel your soul draw near

As the truth becomes

Clear

You have departed