Afterward.

It's over for me.

I hear songs in my head, but they are only echoes.

I remember words, but they are only

noises attached to a feeling that is long gone.

I feel now that this waiting

is all that's left.

I will raise my children.

I will hope that their time will be

Fuller, real-er, longer.

I pray that they will find a Home on the earth

That lasted longer than mine did.

They will have to find their own way there-

I have lost the map.