I am just completing my assignment for Pastoral Care and Theology on the subject of Continuing Bonds as a model for grief.  That, alongside writing my other assignment for the "Quest for the Historical Jesus" which is an obituary for Jesus, means that i am even more preoccupied than usual with the shadows.  This poem is written for all those i love.  As i wrote it, various people drifted through and influenced it:

Ruminating on Losing You

I am still here

and you too are here

but also gone

in this dark daydream of mine

you are lost to me and to the world

in that obvious fleshly way,
your body spread in particles beneath the ancient yew

but i am still here

in that obvious all-too-fleshly way
my body spread across the space

between my essence and the world

i wish that it were otherwise

that you were here and i was gone

for you tread so softly
bring such solace to those you touch

if you were here i might stay

might find a way to tolerate

this cumbersome attire

this body that weighs me down

on waking from my daydream

i find that i am definitely still here

and when i turn to look for evidence

you too are here

and i am soothed

and more content

to stay awhile

longer...