When you arrived in heaven
did you tell her?
Did you say she is not forgotten -
not for a moment, not for a day?
Did you let her know that
love still lives
in the synapses of my brain,
the airways of my lungs,
flows through the blood of my veins -
pumping a heart that beats her name?

I hope you told her
how memories survived -
tattooed on an ankle,
typed on a page,
boxed mementos in a closet,
framed on a wall,
passed on to others
so they will remember it all
when I am gone.

And did you think to say
how I feel her in my dreams -
watching over me,
through all the extremes
of loneliness.
That I survive on the sparks of her spirit -
flashes of laughter,
flare of eyes,
pulsing of chest, heart against mine.
That I listen for the footfall
of steps
running down the drive -
arms wrapped around my waist,
so much alive
and insistant
that I never leave her again.

Please say that I kept my promise.
I never left and I never will.

© Laura DeHart Young