The Shadow

I watch her sob in the night

Her fingers clutching a photo of her love,

Pressing it to her chest,

As if paper could soften the ache.

She whispers their name in the dark,

Her voice trembling like the flicker of candlelight,

Wishing for their return,

For them to hold her again,

For them to speak those words that once calmed her

But I know, as the guard,

They will not come.

Their laughter has faded into memory,

And their smile only lives in the curves of her dreams

So I must stay beside, silent and loyal,

The watcher she never sees.

When her body trembles with grief,

I tremble too.

When her tears fall,

I fall with them.

Until the day the heavens open for her,

And light swallows us,

Only then will I let go,

And she will rest,

Forever in the arms she’s missed.