Where does the love go

when the hands are empty

but the heart is still full?

It doesn’t leave.

It doesn’t disappear into the ground with the body

or fade with time like people promise it will.

It settles into quieter places.

It becomes the smell of sandalwood

when nothing nearby explains it.

A laugh that comes from a child

who seems to be speaking to someone you cannot see.

A warmth in the chest at the most ordinary moment

that suddenly isn’t ordinary at all.

The love goes inward.

It threads itself through your breath,

your memories,

your mornings with coffee and ache intertwined.

It becomes the way you still speak their name in your mind.

The way you love differently now

deeper, softer, more fiercely honest.

Love doesn’t need a body to exist.

It only needs a place to land.

🦋A