Grief like Love

Ash is the memento, the imprint
While smoke is the shadow, the memory
Love at a backwards glance

A memory which cannot be forgotten
Because smoke follows the flame
Long after it has died
And burns forever in memory
------- in her memory ----------
As tendrils of smoke slip through her fingers, chasing
A thousand and one 'could have beens'
Should have been, would have been all the difference (Too late)

A cigarette dangles between her fingertips
A remainder of what has been lost
A remainder of what has been lost and cannot be found
'In loving you, I have lost myself.
In losing you, I have found that you are the one I was looking for all along.'

Grief is love (at a backwards glance)
Love filled and fueled by smoke and ashes
Memories and mementos of a time not long ago, but so far away

She lights another cigarette
'You gave me life again.
I was dead before I met you.' And dying everyday since

Everyday since, she lights a cigarette
To remember or to forget
The bitter aftertaste of loss
Of smoke and ashes
The taste of regret.