I SHED A TEAR FOR YOU TODAY

i shed a tear for you today

I shed a tear for you today
A small flutter of feeling rising from my tummy
It reached my chest constricting and then released
And with it fell a tear
A tear for you
And for what you were to me

And what you are no more

Your ghost rode the bus with me

I did not turn to look

Because I knew you were there

Your energy fizzed and popped 

Ghostlike fingers grabbed at my waist

Small carbons within jumping in memory

As I remembered your touch 

On my soul

Suspended in a chalice of time

My breath fell short

But then deep breaths filled me again
Swelling my chest
Lifting me up

And I remembered the places we walked together

And talked together

A time in our life that was complete

Our world for a time

But then things changed

Like the seasons and like the tides

That bittersweet surrender
To something out of our control

Our time had come

We let go of our hands...

Two steps forward

And one glance back

A smile

A dip of the head

And then it was gone

A new direction with one tiny inching of one tiny toe

Permanent etches of time

~

The flutters subside
The tears run off my chin
And I know it will always be there

Within


~ Hayley Baines