The Nights I Spend Without You

   I am thinking of my mother-in-law as the three month anniversary of Del's passing approaches.This is a love poem I wrote early in our marriage when Reed started to travel, but I thought the sentiment might resonate with her in her grief marathon.


 

         The Nights I Spend Without You

The nights I spend without you are not eternities.

I do not lay down every night in tears.

But sometimes I reach with my hand

for your familiar comfort

and find a void as empty

as your sleeping place beside me.

And it is much easier to shed the tears

than to hide the pain.

Because you are not there, I need you.

Need your comfort, but you are not there.

I think of times we’ve spent together,

loneliness enhances the memories.

And with only the empty house

to witness its passing,

the summer leaves my heart

and what remains is as cold

as the winds of autumn.