Ghost Ferns

Even in your absence I catch myself looking for you,

smelling your woolen cologne

your perfume

your fur and finery…

There is a piece of you in everything I do, somehow

a presence that permeates all;

a ghost

Remember how you kept us up nights?

Your incessant rascal nature?

I hear it in the raucous laughter of teenage girls passing the house

in the mournful howl of the four a.m. transient

harsh and loud

a soundtrack to the daily thousand goodbyes and greetings.

I rise halfway from my chair

becoming the Me of four years prior

before I catch the chain again

before the machine resumes its perfect function….

It must sound strange for all the rattle

but I am comforted by the astral proximity

Glad for the company

Here

Certain that you must delight the baby

because I know the veil is thin for him;

When he laughs and grasps at nothing I sense arrival.

You blessed me 

Made me feel lucky and chosen

always.

It is warm tonight

The peepers have started their late summer calling

they beckon me to the yard

where I stand under the stars looking up

and though you wind about my chest

ethereal and healthy

I miss the subtle caress in my heavy hope and whisper skyward,

"Wait for me

Wait for me

Wait for me."

.

.

.

Ghost fern trio of belt buckles:

soft and hard

sumptuous and earthy.

5 inches by 3.25 inches to the edge of the triple-scalloped demi-wings.

In the 

LEATHER SHOP

today.