I couldn't tell you how long you were gone
or even why you decided to leave, but I can
say with certainty that even the shadows started
asking where you went. The walls wouldn't talk
about you but they started whispering all your songs
as Sleep settled in. And even though I couldn't
give you definitive time frames all of us know
without any doubts that you have been gone longer
than the universe existed without planets and
longer than dinosaurs have been extinct.

We know because your ghost moved in to the study
when the walls turned to glass and the waves
became nothing more than the memories of a memory.

Oh ***, I couldn't tell you how long it's been
since you left, but haven't you been gone
more than long enough?