WHEN YOU WERE HERE

sometimes i see you, i hear you--
its not just remembering (i'd recognize that)
its being reminded--- held by the vision
sometimes its being gripped--
and ripped apart by your absence,
its being strangled by that harsh thought...

Now your gone,
you were perfect...
did you realize that i saw perfection in you,
when you were here.
no one ever really saw you,
ever really knew you,
ever really cared.
but when you were here,
i cared.
i still care,
i will always, still care.

your eyes did what most can't,
they read souls,
and wrote novels---
with a single glance.
Did anyone ever bother to read you?
Bookends?
Remember?
Remind me?
I never saw a time that someone read my voice
or the ringing telephone like you...

when you were here--
when you were real,
when you were my friend,
i love you
i love us...
i miss you...

winter 1993