Departures Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Missing from my heart.
Are those personal departures.
Leaving me with their advice and smiles.
And faces to stay I will always remember.
Stronger each day.
As if they had not gone away.

Missing yet still to reminisce,
The honesty of true relationships.
Knowing nothing said is meant to deceive.
Or kept concealed.
Regardless if I accepted,
Their severity of their critique.

Departures I knew were honest I miss.
Never to forget the enjoyment of this.
Of having them say to my face.
And not to others behind my back.
What they thought what I did,
Had been too 'far out'.
Be less 'abstract'.

Missing from my heart,
Are those departures to have left.
Yet kept I do,
The feeling of being blessed.
To realize more each day I live...
If it had not been for them,
My best to give I'd be making excuses.
And this they did not allow,
As a choice for me to choose.