Your Absent Face Poem by Daniel Brick

In Memory of Kathleen Raine

When I stretched out my right hand
to touch your face, mysteriously present,
I felt only air and it parted and disappeared,
only an emptiness left behind where I expected
the warmth of your skin, the vital response
of your quickening breath, the depth of your eyes,
holding both astonishment and contentment
in a perfect balance. But something of you
abides, some trace of your beauty mingles
with natural beauty and creates a abundance
that sweetens the air with promises of more
delights to come, never-ending because never
grasped and squandered. Oh, I know this truth!
But my heart is still restless for a simple
touch, a caress of flesh and flesh,
the reassurance that all does not dissolve
into air, but something persists: a falling leaf,
a splash of water, a tender voice speaking
what must be said over and over, the longed-for touch.