In My Throat

In My Throat

You have

been gone for ten years

and counting,

each day without you

is slowly mounting. 

Still, your residual

presence sticks 

to the back of my 

throat like some

strange, moldy growth

that I can never hope

to be rid of. 

I feel you there 

each time I 

smile, each time

my voice thickens with tears, 

oh, my dear, 

you are the lump

in my throat 

that never disappears.