…as fragile as butterfly wings

Gently a leaf falls, completely alone
your voice calls to me, soft and lingering
in the swirling mists of the falling night
I remember falling once, somewhere in the silence
the rush of the night air whispering everywhere
drowning in the darkness, listening to a clicking clock
drifting in from the void as waves of roses
are softening my descent
once boundaries were only invisible lines
still allowing stolen glances, a brief look of love
and sweet, sweet dreams, but in the silence
and the cold, dark emptiness, I am drifting back to loneliness
hushed songs from an unseen orchestra circle me in the breeze
and I see myself reflected in the stillness of the night
and in the shifting shadows
that still reveal things once hidden in the light
I can still feel you in the endless dark caverns of my broken heart
this labyrinth forms the moment
I watch it unfolding and then fading away
alone again, another day, but I never know how to leave
all that was once real, now just a recurring dream
of an endless staircase made of glass and rain
that each night I climb and then descend, without a moment of regret
in every falling dusk, I hear you call my name
I know that you are gone, but somehow, still forever in my heart
and I hear the last echo as fragile as butterfly wings
the immense, gravity of loss
© Ann Bagnall