This Cavernous Cavity

The sky has been drained of color

By these ravenous clouds,

And I trudge beneath,

My hair rustled by bitter winds.

Blotches of sunlight slip through the grey,

But the effulgence is always so far behind

These dragging feet.

To both my sides shadow-y friends meander.

When I stretch my fingers towards them,

Desperate for physical reassurance of any sort,

They dissolve into the distance.

I needed you,

But now I just need anyone.

Too many acquaintances offer smiles and platitudes,

But I don't need their emotions, their words.

I need arms to encircle me

And fingers to curl behind my back,

To hold onto me,

To assure me that I am needed

As badly as I need this reassurance.

To assuage this angst between these ribs,

I am desperate to see that you ache for me,

That you would bleed out without me.

But I cannot find this sort of reciprocation--

And so I invest everything I have into any opportunity

That resembles, however slightly, what I remember

Love to be.