Phantom Existence

 

It has been too long now
since I last heard your voice
speak my name, whisper in my ear.
Only echoes do I hear
resounding in my mind, resonant
in the void of your absence.

I've led a phantom existence
since that moment I realized
you would not share the dream
my vision had inspired.
I don't know the reason why
you'd deny what once was ours.
It makes no sense to me.

For these many years
I've walked alone in a shadow,
embraced by the arms of an endless night
where darkness is the only thing
that softens the bitter sting
of this empty, useless memory.
It does no good to try to forget
all it once meant to me.

Forever I will remember,
your image, your eyes,
the tender, passionate way
your hand held mine -
all are imprinted indelibly
in my thoughts, the vital essence
of all I have experienced
and all I will ever be.