…of all I have lost

This place
that once was ours
is now no longer
a home
I am now
just a shell of myself
grimly holding on
to the heavy weight
of emptiness
as the sharp sword
of betrayal
cuts a swathe
across my soul

I am both hollow
and filled with pain
I hear whispers
from the abyss
and the sharp
acetic scent
of all I have lost
circles me like prey
quietly repeating
all of the truths
and all of the lies

this dark experience
of endings
the salt in love’s
unfermented demise
I hunger
for the past
an ache
that cannot be fed
yet still I dance
with the ghosts
that haunt me

I ache for release
from this
enduring cold
for the soft return
of the scent of roses
and honeysuckle
I refuse
to surrender
to these dark tides
now slowly drifting
sublimely at peace
into the slow
vanishing void
© Ann Bagnall