Now you’ve gone

the city feels different
now you’ve left.

i walk past your empty nest
feeling like the leaves touched by crimson light,
the last ones at the top of the tree
that catch the day’s flaring red tail.

it has this satisfying feeling
of a newly emptied room,
vacated and swept,
clean slate -
exhale feather-light and content

before life storms right back in.

your body leaves my bed,
your being floats out of range
and there is space,
a tenderly scented
emptiness.

i’ve learned over time that
this
is a treasure of a moment

before longing blooms wild again -
absence
rings clear in its cristaline orb,

a perfect kingdom of love in itself.