framing you

it dawned on me today
why loss is so difficult.

because loss is never complete
nor is it thorough
that would be so much easier.

instead, we are left with
the remnants of a person
all the associations without the presence
a web of invisible trails cut from you
all the places and signals and gestures
slowly empty themselves of kinship
but not of meaning
half of the stories replay themselves
in my mind, but are no longer mine to tell

the cut flowers
without the roots
that make it a dead thing.
although that blossom is still beautiful
left by the window, inside the box
to fade itself out

eventually what remains
is what we allow to be framed
i was never one
for throwing out the bathwater
for the sake of clean laundry
but for our sakes we'll let the water run
to dilute the frothing detergent,
that ever purges and removes.

one day i will look back and see what we framed
through the 'faulty cameras in our minds'
and smile