Shoes in POEMS

I looked for you today
In the places familiar to my mind
Between pieces of paper and notes (thank God, you kept them all)
On shelves in the cupboard (between quail eggs and kelp)
Tucked away in corners of your uniform (small smells that still keep)
Atop the hill in the yard (looking at the view that stole our hearts)
On your side of our closet (yes, your side stays)…
There. The shoes…
The familiar well worn heel with the twisted loops above (quickly pulled on a thousand times)
Just sitting there. Not doing their job and holding your (ridiculously beloved) feet…
And it hits… Reality…
Vicious clarity of thought sends the world breaking (for the umpteenth time)
Shattered pieces coalescing and ripping outward from a broken organ (that keeps beating somehow)
But I still look, and look again, and will keep looking…
I don’t know what I’ll be tomorrow but I know that I’ll love you then too
And mourn the feet that no longer inhabit those shoes