POETS UNITED - ABSENCE

“Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.” - William Cowper

After a leave of absence, I am returning this week to Poets United, where the topic of the week is quite aptly, “Absence”. Here is my contribution:

Absence

The bed has turned to stone tonight,

Its granite sheets as cold as death;

The walls constrict each passing hour

And the room diminishes in size,

Crushing me in its fierce grip.

My empty hand searches in vain

For a familiar touch;

But emptiness crawls slowly on my skin

Eating away my flesh

Like acid corroding all it contacts.

My eyes extinguished,

Stare at the blackness;

But the abyss hides no secret light,

And night elongates

Eating away the days and all my hopes.

My silent lips dare not part,

For none will hear what they may whisper;

Your absence dulls all my senses,

Stops my heart and steals my soul

Leaving me empty, like a useless husk.

Rain falls outside, relentlessly

And inside my tears trickle down;

Your absence is a subtle poison

That robs my body of its will to live –

The only antidote, your swift return…