The Anatomy Of Absence (Poetry)

Imagined heart-shaped — the gap the mind can’t fill
with anything except an ache
that grows — expands until
stretched to love’s infinity
bonds fray — begin to break
and nothing helps — no strength of will
can heal or bridge or make
a scrap of difference — loss is still
an ever-present agony —
a nerve that stays awake.

No anaesthetic in the world can numb
the pain of absence or begin to treat
what isn’t there — sensations come
despite the void — the amputee
feels the itch in long-lost feet
the mind has pictures — adds the body’s sum
imagining it whole — a life complete
then memory adjusts — subtracting one
displays the answer near-invisibly
maps nothing but deceit.