…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