The ghost of your voice, a whiskey-soaked whisper,
haunts the empty spaces between my ribs.
Your lingering presence aches like a ****** bruise.
Even in a crowded room,
your shadow dances on the periphery of my vision.
My heart, a stubborn compass,
always points towards you,
a magnetic north that leads me astray.
I build walls of indifference,
plant gardens of new affections,
but the roots of our entanglement
run deeper than any cultivated soil.
You're invasive,
Killing the light, and any hope of freedom
From your smile.
You are the siren song,
the shipwreck I yearn to return to.
The familiar ache of your absence
feels more comforting than the tentative warmth of new beginnings.
I have thought it through.
And the conclusion is a bitter surrender.
This is my fate,
to orbit your gravity,
a satellite forever lost in your orbit.
You are a toxic cycle I surrender myself to.
Unwillingness has never felt so relieving.

He walks with grace like butterfly wings flutter
A scent like lavender,
Skin like butter.
His soft spoken voice, a calming sound
Akin to honey, bees flying around.

But he carries a sadness
Deep in his eyes
A sorrow that dares not see the sunrise
Perhaps a lost love, or an action filled with regret.
The weight of the knowledge has him affixed to his bed.

The townsfolk wonder,
who could he be?
A man of few words, a mystery.
But everyone knows, him by his scent
The fragrance of lavender,
undertones of torment.

One day he vanished..
without a trace.
No one knew where he went,
no one bothered to chase.
His fragrance lingered in the air
A sweet reminder
Of a man so rare

It was later revealed,
he took his life.
The sadness too great,
Emotions a strife.
But his lavender garden, a final farewell
From a man who suffered an untold hell.

The townsfolk mourned
The loss of a friend
The scent of lavender,
A bittersweet end.

The lavender man can now finally rest,
He didn't do great, but he tried his best.

My heart screams
Sorrow-filled moans.
They stay aching in my chest.
They beat at the dam
Behind my eyes
Begging me to shed tears over you.

I don't.

If this is Earth, what is Heaven?

May space and time come upon us,
Give me guidance in times of need.
Experience shaping sight,
I beg for forgiveness
you once promised me an eternity
for as the hour draws near
I see my ending

A scarred heart
A scared mind
What is Heaven if not our finite time on Earth?

Tread lightly,
Hollowed souls haunt these grounds.
Breathe in,
Taste their decay on your tongue.

Yesterdays have come
And gone
Yesterday I read some
Of your stories
And poems
You wrote even
If you didn't
Feel well
Oh to have
Talked to you
What you wrote
What you felt
I could only
Reply with
Tear filled eyes
As you looked
Down from Heaven
Was that God I heard
Or was it thunder

Yesterday I inherited
All the gold in
The world
I was given your
Poetry and stories
From.years gone by
How those ragged
Edges.of journals
Crinkled through
My now calloused
Fingertips
Tears started to blot
Some of the carefully
Chosen words
From experiencing
Pain and love
Laughter and tears
The should of 's and
Could of 's
Reminders of the past
As siblings
The success and failures
Of your diabetic journey
Your funny stories
Those that happened
Those that did not
Stories to make you
Laugh or cry
The reminders of
What was
Rekindled in my very
Being
Reading one of
Your stories
Reminded me
How blest and honored
I was to have had
A  brother
Like you