After You Departed

The room retains what you departed.

Light lingers upon the edges of still things.

Nothing stirs unless air is moved through first.

And even then, it seems uncertain of its own intent.

-❖ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋-

A vessel grows cold upon the counter’s surface.

What was warmth withdraws into itself and lessens.

No upward motion seeks the space above.

And silence settles near every object present.

-❖ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋-

Garments remain where last they were set down.

Fabric holds the trace of what is no longer there.

Drawers open into an unchanged arrangement.

No hand interrupts what has come to rest.

-❖ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋-

Beyond the walls, the weather continues its course.

Cloud forms pass through the high field of sky.

Rain descends upon ground that has known it before.

The earth receives all things and offers no reply.

-❖ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋-

Voices persist in places far removed from this.

Sound moves through barriers that yield no answer.

Names are spoken with a loosened care.

Memory alters yet does not depart.

-❖ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋-

Night concludes the day without signal.

Darkness comes as it has always come.

Some things proceed by their own necessity.

And nothing becomes other than itself.