Ghosts

Where have they gone?
Ghost people.
Some who said hello
and kissed me
and said “I love you.”
– and said goodbye
… or did I, or did we?
and some died or perhaps
were never really here.
Yet, they seemed as real
as you, my dear,
before the losses …
the moribund sense
of how they felt
and smelled and,
oh God yes,
how they loved,
… made love.
Before the insidious
dissipation of all that was
vital and extraordinary
and … adored,
before our hearts
began to die.

Will you become
a ghost, my dear?