I Traded You for a Ghost

I traded you for a ghost

You were here,
Next to me
I could share
A joke
A smile
A story
My body-
And everything me

But I let you go
I traded you for a ghost,
Quietly crowned in frost.

Now the nights are cold,
shadows surround me
I reach in the dark,
for a hand,
a voice,
a spark of breath—
but only silence receives me

I realize
I traded you for a ghost
And the ghost truly loves me

And then
the ghost moves in
lying silently in my bed
teaching me to forget warmth
I share again
A joke
A smile
A story
And nothing mine

I remember
I traded you for a ghost,
And now the shadow
secretly
wears my face