…your voice echoes

Dreaming again, drifting back through the years
the darkness surrounds me, yet I know this place
your voice echoes in the night
I feel the cold stone walls beneath my hands
I see stars crowding the sky, their distant light trembling
then silence falls and I awaken alone
to find myself empty, a hollow vessel
where the warmth of you once dwelled
your presence fades
just as an extinguished candle leaves the night
at the mercy of the shadows
in the deep hours of solitude, I still seek you
in the rustle of the leaves, the sighs of the wind
and in the space between heartbeats
the pale moon is watchful and the stars whisper their secrets
as I find myself bound to this endless longing
the threads of memories are woven into my dreams
always unravelling in the dawn
your distant voice is further away each day
retreating like the outgoing tide
I cling to the echoes as they bleed through the cracks in my soul
in absence you linger in the shadows
in the scent of flowers or the fleeting warmth of a summer breeze
it seems my heart remembers, what my mind tries to forget
just as the night clings to its stars
even with the rising of the sun
© Ann Bagnall
2016