Heavy with its emptiness, it slips in between heartbeats, unravels my thinking. It catches in my throat and stings my eyes. It comes to me on the notes of violins and the beat of drums. It shoulders up beside me, lays it head in my lap, wraps itself around me. It takes up the room,  stifles the breeze, dims the light. There is no place for this. I want nothing of its presence.  Yet, it’s there and there and there again. A companion I did not choose. An enemy I’m forced to know. This is absence.