Gone But Not Replaced
A conglomeration of memory: After It’s Gone

It’s not my own voice
Returning to stroke my ears
Her echoes …, haunting …
Brick by mortared brick
I built a protective wall
Then you kicked it down
I couldn't say out loud …
How the very sight of you
Took my breath away
I couldn’t say out loud …
How being near you
Made my heart race too
I couldn’t say out loud …
How the sound of your voice
Is better than any musical choice
I couldn’t say out loud …
How all I wanted was to hold you in my arms
Spend my very life keeping you safe from all harms
How your laughter made my blood boil
How your love was my soul’s fertile soil
I couldn’t say out loud …
How cuddling next to you for a show
Meant more to me than you’ll ever know
How lying next to you as you snore
Was a feeling I truly, wholly adore
How seeing you, sleepy-eyed, patter to the kitchen
Was as fun as watching a playful gamboling kitten
I couldn’t say out loud …
How whenever your face would frown
I’d want to make you laugh by acting the clown
How seeing your emerald eyes light when I brought you flowers
Made me pity other men who, without you, must be dour
I couldn’t say out loud …
How the day you said yes to my proposal
Left me speechless.. nonvocal
How when we stood on that altar
My heart bursting, knowing I couldn’t falter
All my every dream came true
How to keep you the very heavens I’d sue
I couldn’t say out loud …
How every subsequent day
Your love made a joy in every way
How to touch you, stroke you, be intimate
Was a feeling beyond human sentiment
I couldn’t’ say … I had not the words
When you became ill
I prayed for a miracle
But still I couldn’t say …
I couldn’t say out loud …
How bleak my tomorrows would be
If you were not there for my eyes to see
I couldn’t say …
Goodbye
I wouldn’t …
Instead, inside I cry
Now I kneel here, flowers in hand
As salty tears fall upon sand
So now must I say …
Out loud. …
How empty my soul feels
How life no longer holds thrills
How ice runs down my spine… Bringing chills
Now I can say out loud. …
You were my everything
Shattered shards of love
Litter floor like broken glass
Lacerated soul
She departed … long ago.
Still, I picture her every night
Her shade what each new one must fight
It’s not right, nor even fair
To be honest, probably not even real
Yet to her scrubbed perfected memory I compare
Each new girl
I don’t blame you for going
Nobody can live up to polished shiny hype
Even though in my recesses I’m knowing
Many I let slip were my true type
She left an indelible mark
No stain remover could touch
Yet to common sense I must hark
Memory must be scrubbed with wire brush
So I dig out that box of pics
Dump it on the table
Still.. truly let her ghost go? Am I able?
My eyes tear faintly
But it’s way past time
To recall she wasn’t truly saintly
Her soul had some grime
Scissors in hand I blindly pick
A memory rectangle from the pile
I feel sick
But I cut all the while
When next I meet someone
I will make a true effort to not compare
I shall try my best to be fair
About the Creator
Andrew C McDonald
Andrew McDonald was a 911 dispatcher for 30 yrs with a B.S. in Math (1985). He served as an Army officer 1985 to 1992, honorably exiting a captain.
https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Keys-Andrew-C-McDonald-ebook/dp/B07VM843XL?ref_=ast_author_dp




Comments (1)
That picture you’ve chosen is quite haunting, Andrew! Very poignant piece. I particularly liked the everyday minutiae charm of these lines, “How seeing you, sleepy-eyed, patter to the kitchen Was as fun as watching a playful gamboling kitten”. ☺️ Terrific piece!