After They're Gone For Everyone But YOU

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the day they leave
is tattooed
to the skull

but
the longer they are gone
the more you see them

but

only you see them

only you

if it is not your secret
if you bullhorn their presence
to the unitiated,
that is when the trouble begins.

but

trouble is avoidable,
joyously and silently

when the interior dialog

updates you on their life
after life

(and vice versa)

but

they already know

everything about you

the key is

not one living thing

other than YOU
need know a word

you say or is said

to you

by the long gone

but long needed

and heeded

under the streetlight

or your trysting place

of choice

with the invisible voice of

mother and father

with eternal youth
in their eyes

and you in their soul

to give solace, comfort,
counsel and maybe,
a joke or two

for only you

***

***

Paul Oliverio

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