An Absence

It was somewhere between

songs that have no words

how my father deals with grief.

He falls asleep in front of the TV.

Occasionally forgets my name.

Checks the digital clock cause

absence is louder that a firework.

A lavender nightgown

on white sheets,

they smell like her for days.

And me so very here to catch

all the pain you want to heal.

It has been so long

since I heard him sing.

He's been made hollow

by the salt tears of the sea.