Richard Schnap

Even though he’d been gone for many years
She still felt his presence wherever she looked

The whispered hiss of a steady wind
Became his breath as he slept beside her

The sun’s warm hands against her cheek
Transformed into his comforting embrace

The rhythmic patter of afternoon rain
Turned to his tears that anointed her breast

It was as if he had never left
And over time she began to speak

Confessing things she wish she’d said
The void in her heart his absence would bring

But then one night as she scanned the sky
His face appeared in a bright constellation

To tell her gently to try to forget
For he would be waiting when her time arrived