ever felt like chunks of self were missing and you couldn't seem to find yourself? sure the intensity of it is temporary, but the loss is something with which we can all identify and it sometimes feels that a part of self is missing without beloved friends and loved ones in our lives. Dawn

Grandma,
you’re the only one
who ever
told me I was
            beautiful.
            You treated me as if I were
            a lovely princess,
            destined for
            love. 

Heaven
holds you now,
and it’s been hard since
you’ve been gone.
Nobody seems to see me
through your eyes,
and forty years
have taken a toll
as have many
treasons.

                 You are missing, and I am missing you.

J.,
you’re the only one
who ever
let me
            spill my pain, cry
               on your shoulder,
            rage and spin
               like an angry wind,
            then laugh
               at the absurdity
               of it all.

Heaven
holds you now,
and it’s been hard since
you’ve been gone.
Safe places to be are
at a premium,
and I am alone,
ripped apart again
by pain and changing
seasons.
You are missing, and I am missing you.

D.,
you’re the only one
who ever
told me I had
            a future,
               who looked at me so
            convincingly
               that there was no question that you
            believed in me.

Heaven
holds you now,
though you’re here on Earth,
and it’s been hard since
you’ve been gone, since
you erased every trace
of confidence and
slammed doors in
my face without
reasons.

                 You are missing, and I am missing you.