Elise Skidmore

  
 Last Words
 
 
 We had so many conversations,
 I cannot remember  
 what we talked about the last time.
 Last conversations differ from last words.
 I remember your last words
 exactly as you said them.
 They were always the same,
 the end to every conversation--
 I love you.  
 
 
 It has been so long since  
 the last time we had a real conversation;
 I've almost forgotten the sound of your voice.
 All our conversations are one-sided these days,
 and yet, like a phantom limb that wakes me in the night
 with sudden, impossible sensation,
 I hear you whisper
 I love you.  
 
 
 
 
 ~Elise Skidmore ©2019