Sweet Sixteen

You were seventeen I was fifteen There were two Then there was one The One who is left Mom immersed in what-ifs Sits at the kitchen counter Death supersedes life My here and now disappears Into your not-to-be future Dad in pained denial Runs another thousand miles Returns with his pretender Found in Butte Montana Who stays awhile Every night Alone Insulated by bedroom walls The pain -- rebuffed all day Roils up And I understand forever Mortality is real The empty spaces Tell me Just how gone you are But I am still here How am I to fix this? How am I to feel this? How am I to be? The One who is left