POEM: The Pieces of You That Were Left Behind

There were pieces of you that were left behind
Detonated by the ordinance of living.
These are the parts I keep tripping over,
The parts I unearth when I least expect it.
The parts that leave me unprotected.

I want to see the sense of it,
The wisdom of the grief and the empowerment
That comes with clean slates washed
Anew in the blood of saints.
I want to read it like it makes sense
But it is that piece of you that I held
In folded praying hands that won’t let me understand.

It was never your memory that I recognized
By touch, by smell, and even by taste –
It was the microscopic parts of you that comingled
Atom by atom with mine,
The dust trail you could not help but leave behind
That led up to the empty space of you
Like a line of fire ants ready to do battle –
With the hope – I guess –
That no one would ever notice you again.

But they would be wrong.

In the universe of the bleeding love I have for you,
I am always your witness
And I will always notice you.


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