DAEMON LOVER

Margarita Kazak

As each day passed and the year s built up, She began to fade away Slipping to the back of my mind

I star ted to doubt her existence Because the image of her Seemed too fantastical, Like the legends were all I had ever known All remnants of her had been Er ased from my mind As I was from her s, Until I found a water stained card Signed with her name .

She began to retur n to me , Memor ies of day tr ips and laughter Flooded my mind

But the sense of abandonment

Revived as well

After she left, I clung to her postcards Memor izing the quir ks of her wr iting, Analyzing ever y word, Waiting for her to come home And asking myself why she had gone But I realized I was holding on to shadows.

As I have grown up, I wished to have even a fr agment of her But now I only wonder how someone Who shaped my childhood Could become such a str anger. Her stor ies still echo in my head, Romanticizing her mistakes. I long aspired for her life , But I am car ving my own place And wr iting my own stor ies.