Emptiness eats at the heart, more surely than time itself,
yet some days we are blessed with company
enabling us to see just beyond the emaciated self.

Though the day ahead seems barren, a friend
will sometimes bring along all the light you lack to coast
above the dour grey slates and chimney pots.

So we make our soup of fresh tomatoes and basil
in the garret kitchen, and the knots in the stomach
loosen their grip as we make ready to eat and talk.

No time now for last year’s man, or any lost inventory
of sights not seen, things not done, time wasted
in procrastination, or dreams hardly begun.

And though we are still both dreamers of sorts,
we stand beside immense facades, telling the other
there is no need for touch, or sex, or love.

Since there is no reality we are sure of, we hide behind
what is lost and won as though we might meet
on equal footing – intrepid explorers as we are.

Only there is no purpose to the proposed dialogue,
no nostalgia beyond the marathon already run,
just the veiled silence of years avoiding dead ends.

– Mark A. Murphy