You Touched your Cheek

Our dear friend Lindsay Emerson left us a year ago today. This is a poem I wrote today but the title has been in my head since my last time with Lins a few days before her passing... she couldn't speak and touched her cheek... I think it was an invitation to kiss her... I didn't catch that until it was too late... I didn't... it is a huge regret... but I now see it as a beautiful gift from Lindsay... her invitation was her telling me she loved me... I'd give anything for that moment back...

You touched your cheek
Like you, so understated
Like so much we came to realise
And me, I hesitated
You touched your cheek
So quickly everything went
It made my sadness tender
When I untangled what you meant

And now, you're bathed in forgiveness
You're submerged in no regret
Laughing in your wisdom
At all we still can't seem to get
And now, we're hung down in our memories
All we failed to recognise
Missing all the life that radiated
In your vulnerable and loving eyes.

You touched your cheek
And moved your neck
I smiled and then I left you
And I never went back
Oh to go there now
To gain what then I missed
Whisper how wonderful you were
And give you one last kiss.

Back