Stripped of candlelight,
perfumes, and
other sweet-smelling things,
your face smiles
from its social media platform,
stripping thoughts bare.
Your eyes dig through skin
Retort; my answer is thin.
Having lived without
your nagging presence lingering
like cobwebs in selfish corridors
where your scent still breathes,
despite leaving; it’s more than
twenty years.
I’ve always loved you
yet confused
by this compulsion
to harness life
on this typed page you always saw
as rival—
A glimpse of you brings
back the smiles I’ve forgotten
to forget,
your absence makes it easier
to say things
I’d normally regret—