Barbara Pease

Absences

The night's soft breath follows
the rhythms of your sleep
moving forward beyond the days we keep.
What is left is for longing.

I dream alone. Love sleeps.
The star filled sky, the soft heat --
Captiva nights -- velvet, thick,
where we walked along the beach,
and dug in our feet.

I am stripped in the heat.
My heart beats in your hand.

I remember and laugh,
still feeling your cheek
against my face.
      Then the ache!

The town is dressed in black.
Eyes that glow yellow wink back.
I think of you.