Her one dead eye
Looks off center at nothing.
Crevasses cut deep worry lines
In a once smooth forehead,
Freckled and aged,
Furrowed even further
By the pain now inflicted.
Her eye denies the tears
That his return has called forth.

Avoiding her gaze
He says nothing.
A steel statue,
Unchanged by time,
Whose silence speaks volumes.

– 6 July 1998 / 2 February 2017

Inspired by a dream almost 20 years ago. Recently brushed off and revised.