dissolution of entities

You were gone.
The hallway locker
no longer feels your hand
lifting the latch.
There's no fumbling for the key
which never was.
An echo of my footfall,
the familiar air moving across my head
stirs parallel thoughts
of a bedside kiss and the simple flowers
by your garden pond.
We ran exhausted into town - our shadows hungry
on the fertile ground.
You placed your head across my knees,
falling asleep, your hair full
upon my thigh.
This school is empty.
The hard floor suffers another loss
when the waxman spills his bucket,
it's cold slurry hardening a heart,
spreading like a red rash upon my face.
The hallway locker
no longer has your number,
having been changed.
The new bell rings.
The new students suddenly charge
this way with warrior sounds,
their text book traffic jams dissolving
at a new intersection -
elbows tight, wiggling bodies, revving mouths
anxious for their own metal box,
the hallway locker
and
you were gone.