there's a shade of you
in everyone i meet.
a faint flicker,
like sunbeams refracting
on the ocean's surface,
forcing me to squint
at a hazy horizon.

you keep time
with my shadow,
always hiding
from the light.
your absence
weighs like a void,
a gravity-gobbling
vacuum siphoning
energy, leading me
inexorably toward entropy.

you are a dæmon, ancient
as the cosmos,
sturdy as oak.
a familiar, lingering
like a musk upon
my garments.
a spirit, resplendent
if, albeit, a bit
impatient.
a ghost, haunting
me close as i slowly trudge
through the sludge of psychosis.

so, errant i remain
until you deign once more
to speak my name
into the ether.
on that day,
i assure you,
i will be true—
come what may—
forever and always.