Place

Yellow, she lay

False teeth, out

Cheeks, sunken and pale

Awaiting the hour

That must come.

---

Fears? She had none.

Regrets? Perhaps a few.

Concerns? There were many.

Help him make sauce, she asked.

He knows many things

Can learn the rest

But this, he will miss.

---

He kept her photograph

Black and white, warm and known

Her soft footsteps, he said

echoes through these rooms

the air infused with her presence here

as if she flutters up the stairs

hovers by the coffeemaker

lingers in her closet.

Better to keep them in their place.

---

When the bond breaks

When soul returns

When one remains

Place, is besides the point.

---

Lives, entangled, intertwined

Roots, reaching deep into the soil

Branches, stretching across earth and sky

---

The imprint of togetherness

Isn’t just loss.

It’s everywhere.