Worlds Apart

By Kam Whittaker

Have you listened to the ticking of the clock for over a decade waiting for time to tell when I’ll return?

Have you wondered where life could have taken me or if the distance would always feel a lifetime away? 

Did you resent that my future would come so fast and the choice to turn a blind eye to my growth would be taken?

Did you feel regret deeply carved into your bones endlessly wondering what could have gone differently?

What would you do to aid the curiosity that caused a deep ache in your heart?

Did you drink your liver dry for thoughtless nights ? Or dirty up your lungs for a moment of silence in your mind?

Did you cope with the pain in ways I’ll never know and extremities words could never fathom?

Or were you okay?

Have you stared at the door for over a decade waiting for the sound of footsteps or the ring of a doorbell?

Did the absence of light ever scare you? Did a new day bring hope to a hurting heart?

Would you wonder if I was afraid of the dark as you saw the sun set underneath your feet?

Have you watched the seasons change in an endless cycle wondering how my face had weathered?

Do I look and act just like my mother? 

Or am I a heart you’ve always known, and a soul you’d always crave to understand?

Did you eventually accept that we were worlds apart in between memories and lost time?

Or were you okay?