For Mine - Father and Fighter

I wake in the empty chill again – pretending.
Warm illusions melt the frost on the panes.
You've departed on a trip with a single wooden ticket –
I couldn't go, but you'll be back, you'll be back.
I watch the sun rising and remember our time in the park:

        golden rays dance through our laughter.  Joy.

That was years after a malignant spirit stole her away:
the grief still haunting us, whispering from the shadows.  It was never the same,
but now I see you in the gray doorway, the shaded passages,
the darkened dreams.

This will be my second bittersweet sorrow.

I believe in Paradise, but not here, not here.

Maybe you'll be back.  I cling to this hope like rosary beads;
it's what you said before you left.  I can't help it.

        Remember the time…?

Then it took you away.  It wasn't the black ice or the drunk driver.
It wasn't the shrapnel or the flying leaden death.  It was Life.

Warm illusions melt the frozen reality,
but I know, I know,

it will only freeze again.