-- The Act of Missing --

John Herlihy

When a person says they miss someone, we think of pain;

The pain missing leaves behind, the only thing to remain.

An integral part of life now suddenly gone, disappeared;

Only the lingering pain left behind as a ghost to be reared.

Missing someone – something – not always a source of pain;

Missing someone – anything – can bring about a sense of gain.

We call missing an act, but isn’t missing somehow a thought;

The fusion of thinking and acting born from what we sought.

True enough that missing speaks of absence never to be filled;

A deep-seated longing that will never in this world be stilled.

Yet missing the person restores their presence as if by miracle;

A secret never told to anyone else in order to avoid ridicule.

In missing, the person missed is made present once again;

All the treasured memories come alive of way back when.

Always remembered, never forgotten, there lies the beauty;

In missing someone, the person lives as an enduring mystery.

Some people simply disappear that you can no longer find;

Forever gone, the question of mystery never comes to mind.

Even if you wanted to, you have no idea where to look;

A person who came into your life you are ready to overlook.

And then, there is the mystery related to the one missed,

Who feels the touch of a breeze in waiting to be kissed.

Who can account for the random blessing we sometimes feel,

Drawn from the love of another that touches us as real.

Emotions lie in the sentiment of missing we wish to resurrect,

Sweet remembrance of a person whose memory never suspect.

The act of missing becomes a thought well worth preserving;

Of all those people and things we miss that are so deserving.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Monday 5 July 2021