I reach out
to you -to your essence
grappling to any shred of your memory.
Your smile.
The light in your eyes.
The tinkling of bells in
your laugh.
The soft rose that warmed all of
the freckles on your cheeks
when you blushed.
Every feature.
Faded.
Like an old picture.
Reaching and clawing through
every scene, every second.
Every memory of you.
Time stands still and the world is silent.
The stars hang, frozen in their dark sky.
The universe is, and suddenly
it isn't.
My mind
blinks.
My heart beats on like a drum and
the wind rushes from my lungs at
lightspeed as
a sickening
possibility comes to mind.
You are nothing more than s t a r d u s t .
This poem was written in 2016.