Spaces
People still show up, with food in hand, planning to force feed their sympathies
If you are one, ...I beg you, please do not notice the empty space beside her
I beg you, please do not console her with eyes cast low, by sense of guilty gladness
in the knowledge that you aren't wearing her shoes, standing in her place
You watch her smile a thank-you, turn away and shut the door
You watch the leaves swirl circles at your feet, as you scurry away, relieved and sure
aware that keeping the space between the two of you, will keep away the curse,
the broken heart, the empty house, the space upon the chair, the empty plate,
the empty bed....the dreaded silence everywhere
Ignore that space beside her if you can, and see instead the person she has always been
Do not fill the space with empty words, with an awkward glance upon your wrist
where time demands your every move, where someone waiting holds your hand,
shares their love
your space, your meal, your couch, your bed, your dream, your home
Look beyond the trace of shock, numbness, despair, the sorting out of tragedy
She is still the girl she used to be,..ignore that space beside her, if you can
Were it not by God's good grace, she could be you.
___________________________________________________________
Copyright © Carrie Richards | Year Posted 2013
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