What It Is Like To Be Without You Poem by Arun Maji

To live without you
is worse than not living at all.
It's like my mind is empty, heart is dead,
and soul is writhing in pain.

It's like being in desert Sahara
without having food and water.
It's like not dead yet
but waiting to die painfully.

To live without you
is even worse than dying.
There's a promise in death,
or in anticipation of death.
I know, my suffering will end then.
But being without you?
It's like living yet not living,
dreaming yet not dreaming,

To be without you
is even worse than hell.
When I see you in shadow of mine,
I stretch my arms to embrace you.
But alas! I end up
embracing agony of emptiness.

Without your being within me
I exist yet not exist, I breathe yet not breathe,
I move yet not move.
My day, my deed, my dream
they all begin in you, end in you.

© Arun Maji
Painting: John William Godward