…of darkness

My heart is broken
and shadows have now fallen in my soul
you are both the sea that drenches me
and the flames in which I burn
the shore upon which I am stranded
and the night into which my sparks drift
there are moments of longing that feel like years
moments of darkness where I hide my tears
now your heart, your heart is distant, not yet gone
caught in between the chaos of the living
and the silence of the dead
fading as the shadows fade softly to grey
at the close of a winter day
mere moments before the darkening
those few short minutes in which all will be lost
lost…before loss was even suspected
lost between breaths, lost between heartbeats
lost between the soft tick and the soft tock of the clock
lost in this place where the thin line
between love and loss becomes a dark abyss
empty and waiting, its depths slowly revealed
as the heart sheds its secrets and the soul bleeds its songs
and they both fall into the echoes
where they circle out into the distance
their voices reverberating in the marrow of my bones
finally fading away into the waiting circles of darkness
where your voice is now drifting like the songs of the sea
and my memories are fading into the past
I ache to retrieve them, to hold them close once more
but they have now floated far away from the shore
now your heart, your dear heart may be out of reach
but your soul, still lingering
will ever belong to me
© Ann Bagnall