Death of a smile

We never held a funeral for your smile
the date of death, uncharted, so unsure.
And maybe it was gone for quite a while;
the bigger picture, serving to obscure.

The laughter lines around your eyes exist,
like fossils of a former age and time;
before insidious, creeping senile mist,
deemed extinct that sharp and vibrant mind

The face void of expression seems as stone.
I think the adjective I seek, is ‘stark’.
With absolutely, no emotion shown
but fading as the twilight, into dark.

I wonder if in some entombed recess,
are you walking with me, eyes alight with glee
a devilish smile, accompanying your caress
your strong arms, hard but gentle, holding me.

My memory, serves me well but can’t replace
reality, which lacerates my soul.
And this cold, lonely; bitter empty space
where my love now, no longer, has a role