As when you were here
by Daniel von der Embse
In the house I keep
to remind me of you,
I wait for your return
to bring life back into the room
Your hair never cleaned
from the sink or your scent
lost from the bed, everything suspended
since you went away
On the table, the linens
brought back from Italy
soften the hardness of miles traveled
before we rested here
The front door kept unlocked
for you to enter without a knock,
nothing that could delay you
from rushing back to me
The creak of the hinges pitched
exactly as when you were here,
nothing changed
but the counting of the years
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I love this topic—Waiting! Years ago as a young actor I played Vladimir in Waiting for Godot — a transformative experience. Now, 40 years on, I spend most of my time traveling and waiting in airports. (I blog about it at WritingInAirplanes.com). Waiting defines much of my time, and my revenge is to write as much as I can during that time, often about what I see or experience while I wait.
IMAGE: “Spring: Open Door on the Balcony” by Pyotr Konchalovsky (1948).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Daniel von der Embse was born and raised in Mansfield, Ohio, and graduated from Ashland University with a B.A.in Theatre. He began writing poetry after a four-decade career as a copywriter for advertising agencies in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City. His poems appear The Missing Slate, Penny Ante Feud, Across The Margin, Harpoon Review, Decanto, Poetry Pacific, Vending Machine Press, and Poetry Quarterly.
Silver Birch Press 
Reblogged this on writing in airplanes and commented:
Thank you Silver Birch Press for this lovely presentation of my poem “As when you were here” .
What a satisfying way to end what has been a most fulfilling year. Happy New Year to all and thank you for reading and following.
beautiful longing
[…] was so grateful to Silver Birch Press for featuring my poem As when you were here in their current series “I Am Waiting.” Everything about their presentation is perfect. […]