MIRROR POEMS

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-- Lonely Without You –

John Herlihy

My solitary companion has no words,

Loneliness its name, quiet as mute birds.

The emotion I feel when you are gone,

Why do I feel it when it feels so wrong?

Did I savor the light of your loving soul,

As your presence made me feel whole?

Love once real now a ghost of the past,

Sweet memories linger, but never last.

Summer so warm but winter left behind,

Alone among leaf-bared trees in the mind.

I speak to wind that will never respond,

As starlight shimmers on a lonely pond.

We all get lonely, but this a thing else,

There in the heart, beating as a pulse.

I never knew loneliness being with you,

Now I know true loneliness without you.

-- Lonely With You –

John Herlihy

My sole companion no longer there,

Loneliness sad as unanswered prayer.

The emotion I feel with you still here,

Now I feel lonely with you still so near.

Did I savor the light of your loving soul,

Before dementia your keen memory stole?

Our love once real is still real, here to last,

Sweet memories linger, I hold them fast.

Summer buds bloom, autumn leaves fall,

Now left alone, as if surrounded by a wall.

I still speak brightly, you never respond,

Lonely starlight shimmers on the pond.

Everyone gets lonely, but this a thing else,

Sitting there between beats of the pulse.

I never knew loneliness being with you,

Now I know loneliness with you not you.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Thursday 23 September 2021