Now That You Are Gone

I love you better now that you are gone.
If a wound is a place where light comes in,
My heart is drowning in the shining sun.
The days are brighter with a shattered bond.
I feel you better now that you are gone.

Tangled briars and a throne of thorns wither,
Giving way to lovely, velvet rose and vine.
The clouded cataracts of envy clear and
I see you better now that you are gone.

Lovebird sonnets from trembling lips,
A heart’s desperate letters left unread,
Your voice once fell on shuttered ears;
I hear you better now that you are gone.

The ashes that have settled are my own:
The bitter curses that I once sowed,
The spurned bed that I never called home.
I love you better now that you are gone.

I cannot love you better now that you are gone.
Words come rushing, tumbling, unsaid,
As shadows of what might have been
Play like phantom echoes in hollow spaces.
I cannot hear you now that you are gone.

As elusive dancers cavort about the stage,
As vibrant colors grow from grey to glory,
Your face glows at the corner of my eye, but
I cannot see you now that you have gone.

You loved me once, but miles stretch between
That time, that place, that twisted thing.
I loved you once, as choking thorn loves trees,
As waves love the divers that they drown.

I cannot feel you now that you are gone.
I released you from that wicked spell
And now, I sleep in desolate sheets
As Morpheus spins me longing dreams….
I cannot love you better now that you are gone.