your absence

Your absence

seeps like a carnivorous vapor,

insidiously consuming my mouth, until smiling burns,

and my eyes, until the tears come (and they do),

even my ears! until endless chatter aches as much as endless quiet,

devouring my skin so slowly and methodically until eventually,

I don’t recognize myself.

By ‘your absence’, I mean the way you come into my world everyday

without being here.