Ghost

This new absence confuses me

with its lack of hatred

in the same old distance

so vast I can’t measure it.

I wander down these desolate corridors and hallways,

hear these same echoes of my unanswered voice,

feel the freedom of total loss,

this devastation complete once more,

all of the leftover raw loneliness

gnawing through delicate nerves and desperate heartstrings,

leaving me in tatters all over again,

brand-new heartbreak resonating deep

in the familiar empty chambers

where I am always alone,

cherished and discarded,

worshipped and abandoned,

seduced and rejected,

exiled in my native foreign land,

lost among strangers.