Eleven

“My love, my love, my love, why have you left me alone?”
—“I Hear an Army,”
    James Joyce



Two roads diverged in a wood in the world,
And Kaelin took the one less traveled by.
Away from my dreary road, already crumbling.
Away from my heart, already breaking.


Kaelin will lift my hand and set it aside
If I lay it on an arm or hand.
No kisses. No hugs.
Few gifts accepted.


Kaelin remains my grandchild,
Though untouchable,
Unreachable,
And ever farther away.


Kaelin, I love you, always and forever.
Nothing will change that.
But nowadays I wonder
What do I have to live for, if not for you?