Your absence pulses within me.

I am a Cardinal fluttering from

limb to branch,

Oak to Redwood.

There is a hollowness

that cannot be appeased.

My days are drowned

with absurd movements,

struggling to fill this expanding chasm.

It is an itch that

can never be fully satisfied.

I am left yearning

for you.

I had you for a short time.

Our love was tender and guileless

like a newborn puppy.

My heart would tremble and dance

as you caressed my cheek,

tenderly enfolding me in your arms.

You told me I was beautiful

and I believed you.

I required naught else in life.

Then you left one day;

you desired more than I could grant.  

Now I am left in wretchedness;

my heart lies in a million pieces

at my feet.

Abandoned with my memories,

they play like a broken record.

My hand is bare and my body cold.

I am left aching for love and warmth.

Our love has vanished and I am alone.