Words don't look how they sound
If I write your name 10 times over
It doesn't even feel like a real word anymore
Just markings on a page

Yet if I say it aloud
The shape of you emerges from my mouth
The feeling of holding you to my chest
The sound of your voice outside the door
The comfort of knowing I could reach out at 4
   in the dark and collide with your warmth

But it all hits me at once like an 18-wheeler
Because I know it's no longer real
But I'll say your name one more time
To remind myself that for a moment you were mine