Maybe someday

I’ll hear those little feet

come stomping up the front steps

again

and I’ll sit just inside

smiling

waiting

for a living ray of sunshine

to burst in through the door

But for now there’s not much smiling

and the house is awful quiet

No light or noise I make

could ever reach all these corners

or clear out these shadows

the way her voice and presence could

every morning

5 days a week

no longer