There’s a sweet pain in my chest
A bloom of soft memories in my head
They hold hands for a time
Making me smile for a little while
Charging then to pierce my eyes
Awkward friends 
This ache in my ribs 
And these recollections
They make me weep
And yet all the while
Hugging each atom of my being
Places and spaces inside of me
Phantom-greyed, blue-bruised, bleak
Stark in the darkness of old scars and stings
Fledgling losses, crushed hearts and things
They hold them close the vital lot
Nostalgia and loss begot
I have a tender-sweet ache in my chest
I wait for my pin-pricked eyes to attest
To love that was gentle, to the fierce kind
Rapt in reminiscence they fill my mind.