Fragments of You

For the ones we carry, even when they’re gone.

Grief is duality.

Grief is selfish.

Grief is needy—

always needing.

A shoulder.

A hug.

The arms of a person

gone.

I just want you to hold me.

Console me.

Tell me it’s going to be alr—

All I have are the memories you left

The memory you are

that I’m desperately trying to keep.

Existing.

Pain we push away.

Push.

Fragments of your soul haunt me.

Taunt me, dance around me.

Your voice

quiet and distant

Somewhere behind me

Are you listening?

Can you hear me?

Grief is needing a companion,

but that companion has become

a remnant

of what they used to be—

who I knew them to be.

Only distant in time.

You’re alive in my mind.

My heart still aches

for the place

where you should be.

Maybe it’s because

you miss me,

also.