unacceptably lesser

a loss is a hole

I walk forward into the future

with the gift of others with whom to share the journey,

when a companion drops away,

particularly from an untimely abrupt death,

I feel a hole in the group--

an absence where I still feel

the ghost of a presence,

yet I can no longer walk with them,

listen to them,

laugh with them,

the jigsaw puzzle of who I feel myself to be

misses a crucial piece,

the hole is real,

and, while I walk forward into the future,

next to me is an absence,

and it’s hard not to feel unacceptably lesser.

by Henry H. Walker

February 14, ’14