I Hang On

My dearest Karlie,

They say that time heals but the time without you is like the sand

At the bottom of an hourglass, growing heavier, heavier still

As the minutes fall infinitesimally to their sleeping place.

I used to count the minutes but they became too many.

I used to hold onto you but you’ve gone so far from me.

I used to hold myself but I’ve become too estranged.

Now you are the dusty photo atop my dresser,

Nothing more than the memorabilia of your absence.

As if someone were staring, I feel the absence of your eyes.

You are real sometimes when I grow tired of fighting

My eyelids, and they enshroud my wakeful thoughts.

I can have you until the sun crawls back, in that place

That illuminates me more than does my Earthly life.

I hang on, I hang on, I hang on, I hang on, I hang on,

But the sand has become too much weight to bear.