Sifting Through Time

You wander the continents, searching for a relic of something lost-
a love not given, or one that was taken away too quickly.
You sift through sand, rock, and bone to locate artifacts
of a memory your dreams created for you.
He loved you, in his own fashion.
but you had to search and rifle through the words
that often fell on your tender heart like rubble.
Among these blows of time, you pieced out left over tenderness.
Your countenance crumbles each time you wonder why you
could not please him.
This wounded facade sets harder each time you
dig to remember a hug, a smile.
You carefully brush and scrub each sherd for evidence, and are always left
with an incomplete vessel.
This will always haunt you because you do not understand where the missing pieces are hidden-
And neither do I.