Without you he is lost;
   His mind searches for an answer,
   His thoughts falling into narrow, twisted tunnels
   Of what ifs and what should have beens.

Without you his lips are a desert,
   And his heart a tundra. To him it is all the same:
   Vast, desolate land. A stagnant nothingness,
   Haunted by shapeless shadows.

Without you he is betrayed
   By the swathes of shimmering stars in the
   depths of the cosmos – by the notion
   that everything was possible, that the universe was good.

Without you he cannot tell
   The difference between human touch
   And the searing sensation of a white-hot branding iron.
   (Which leaves a mark, and which hurts more?)

Because without you he is lost,
   A single alien species floating in the clouds
   Above rolling hills and sprawling meadow,
      Bone-dry canyons and ancient forests,
         And snowy peaks and stormy seas.
      Miles above the earth he may find quiet,
         But he never will find peace.