In This Place

I am here.

            But Bobby isn’t.

I am here.

            But Joanne’s voice is absent from our chanting.

I am here.

            But both Karin  and Karen  look down from heaven.

I am here.

            But Laura is missing.

I am here.

            But neither Alfredo nor David can give me any more Spanish lessons.

I am here.

            But Matthew was martyred a quarter century ago.

I am here.

            But the Lord called the other Martina home.

I am here.

            But Mary Frances’s apartment isn’t hers anymore.

I am here.

             But April is no longer a second reason to visit Tuscon.

I am here.

But I would timeshare my life

were such a thing  possible.

I am here.

But failing to fill the impossible gap left

in the arc of universe, being towards justice.

I am here.

But I carry daily pain so deep

I often forsake remembering in favor of sanity.