but when we are not there
in the space circumstances bring us together
and we are away,
separate as we came to this earth,
you are but spirit to me, it appears;
though the body and the image
and your mannerisms are there in my mind
and if I clutch the pillow and repeat your name
and you, imagined phantom lying in my bed,
croon back and tease;
even then you are but a ghost of love
a possibility, an imagination
a flicker of a light in a mind of heat and red fire;
and O, did you know? -
night and space and distance mock me so;
and though the day brings us together
and we may share time and space
and there you are physical in all your various avatars
in all the colors and fabrics that our world gives us
still, still, you are,
O dearest love,
you are but a phantom that plays tricks in my mind;
you are innocent and pure; my mind drags me into the pits