Ghost Weight

The hallway is long and the shadows are deep,

and the silence is something I can’t seem to keep.

I tripped on the dark where the floorboards are bare,

and reached for a head that was no longer there.

My fingers found nothing but cold, empty space,

no fur and no heat and no familiar face.

But there by the heat where the metal is stained,

the shape of his body has always remained.

The rug is still flat where he used to lie down,

a permanent dent in the gray and the brown.