Our grief, our loss is tempered
By the person you still are to us.
It is not as if we both shared
A far-flung once upon a time,
Now gone.
For your essence, your soul
Cannot be easily removed from those who love you
Or banished from the changes you made
And left behind from your time here.
As our existence is slowly transformed by time,
As we move on,
Your distance from us
Pulls at the ties between us.
It leaves our hearts lonelier,
Even as we remember and recreate you.
In our minds,
You still are here to us...
—Caroline Waligora Roy
