When those that are gone, return, it takes but a few moments for it to seem as if they have never left. Everything seems as it was, matters return to their old rhythms.

And the pain that was, is forgotten, instantly swept under carpets of denial and in-the-moment contentment.

When those that are, go away, it takes little time for you to take longer to remember that they were ever there. Like a fact you once knew but cannot remember just now, they shadow the outposts of your memory - haunting you with the history of their existence, damning you for the vagueness to which you've reduced them.

And the pain that is, may eventually ease, but you never cease to ache*.


* I thought there was a positive point to this when I started, but it seems not. Sorry - Space, OTP, Scout.