🖋️Love Letters to a Ghost

I. first letter, the evening you departed

Two people still set the table for me.

The one at the other side of me

similar to a query

unaddressed.

Because you went missing,

the silence has become louder.

wrong in the gap

in between heartbeats.

I pen missives I never send.

I shut my lips, which were trembling.

Midnight ink writing

on paper that smells like remorse.

II. Where your fragrance lasts inside the closet.

Your coat still hangs there for you to see.

A shadow I cannot escape.

Now and then I slope my cheek.

against its sleeve,

pretending it's your hand

Gently repositioning my hand to my face.

The smell is sorrow.

You left behind—

unseen,

certain.

and ghostly.

III. On the porch, under the rain

You always loved the rain.

You said it made the earth more sympathetic.

Every drop sounds like

your voice

in slow motion.

Drinking tea while sitting.

And let the thunder to

Speak those phrases.

You never said a word.

IV. Correspondence with a Memory

You're not here.

but I can nevertheless hear you.

You are not present.

Still, I keep penning.

You've left,

But still, I love you.

That might be the harshest truth—

to have so much love

not able to hold it.

V. The Last Correspondence I Deleted

Today I burnt one letter.

Not out of animosity,

but to allow the smoke to rise

every place you happen to be.

Maybe you'll notice the odor.

with regard to my sadness

carried on the wind

And finally but not least

answer to me.