where once your name brought joy within my heart
a numbing cold now takes hold of my chest;
where once with eager drumming it would start
now skips a beat - and hangs there in arrest

where once a smile would seize me unawares
is now a blankness, paralyzed and still;
a mind in stasis, seeing just nightmares,
and of your laugh is now unending chill.

where once was speech, my ear now silence hears;
where once your hand my hand would grasp with care -
a gasp, a pause, and then a breath to clear
the apparition of the past from there.

for tho you turned my heart around to lead
my love, my feelings ever constant read