You’ve gone away from me.

Yet my body still carries your touch,

Feels the weight of you, warm and soft.

When I close my eyes I can almost recreate it.

I’m sorry, I whisper into the night.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

A million times I’d say it if each uttering, each syllable retraces you one step back to me.

I imagine your voice cutting through…

Your eyes lighting and dancing in rhythm with mine.

Can feel your hips pressed into me.

Smell your scent of sweat, wood and leather…

I’m here. I love you. I’m sorry.

*This poem is available in my book Soft With Me, printed and bound in Western North Carolina thanks to a grant from the N.C. Arts Council.