You don’t feel close here

in this empty room,

bare walls, bare space.

I look around, feel

the weight of absence

—where are you?

And the friends who loved

me, fought beside me?

Victory we knew was ours?

Someday, someday my

hands reach to grasp yours

and I am surely hold-

ing only air. Yet

I’m learning to trust

this heart, its opinions,

the weight of its beauty—

strength, glory with you.

For surely, you clear

the room—we two side

by side, your presence

filling all emptiness

‘til it is crammed,

crammed with love even

though there is no one,

no one but you and

me here.

—jennifer j. camp