The Phantom Embrace

The world feels a ghost,

A room where a chair is gone,

Not empty, just changed.

A sweater still holds

A scent the mind can't forget,

A phantom embrace.

The sky keeps its sun,

The birds still sing their new songs,

But the chorus breaks.

A book on the shelf

Lies with a folded-down page,

Waiting for a hand.

And silence arrives,

Not a stillness of the air,

But a new language.