The most exquisite kind of sadness
Does not exist.
It is an absence.
A void where nothing used to be
And where nothing will remain
It’s a chamber I feel, eating away at my heart
While it whispers in my ear
That there was nothing there to begin with
I can name the greatest time I felt this sadness
And it wasn’t when mourning something that used to exist
I did not feel those exquisite tears fall after funerals
Nor in between goodbyes and good lucks
The sadness came for something that never was
And never will be
A sadness written out in paragraphs and poetry
So long the Iliad looks like a pamphlet
And a comedy
I still feel this sadness sometimes
Because I still keep pursuing those memories
And you can’t remember something that wasn’t there
And you can’t feel what didn’t exist
And you can’t love when they didn’t exist
When he was never there
And today, I write about the most exquisite kind of sadness
Even though it’s an absence
***
It’s been almost two years since I’ve felt this emotion, but I can recall it like it was yesterday. It still plucks at my heartstrings sometimes. I think that memory built part of who I am today, and although I believe life would be easier without it, I think there was definitely something learned from that time.