Dreaming You

Waking from dreaming you

is like falling

into shadow

after standing in the sun

In sleep I see what we could have been

Every glance, every soft word

every argument sharp enough to leave a mark

The ordinary

the absurd

Laughter, music

the quiet ache of staying

A kind of love

that doesn’t tear itself apart

All of it leading somewhere

that feels like us

I wake slowly

and miss something I never had

a touch I never felt

and still

it’s there

Dreams don’t forget

I wake again from you

your lips

your laugh

arms that feel like they know me

Then, with an indrawn breath, you’re gone

I tell myself

I’ve let it go

what I don’t want

what I can’t have

But at night you slip in

without warning

and I am

empty again