Loss

Amputation

The sudden cold cut of loss
Shocks numb the mind, unable
To realise what has gone.

It will initially act as though
Nothing is wrong; testing, examining,
The extent of the damage.

It adapts, it adapts: yet how,
None are sure. Denial is possible,
Leading to a curious impasse

Where it ignores the absence,
Going on without addressing
How it reforms, diminished;

Adapting to return as a lesser
Whole, able to function,
Find new pursuits.

Never acknowledging the loss
Brings shock, the patient
Unaccepting, unadjusted. The itch

Maddens. The sense of loss
Swells. All that is gone still
Looms: a virtual presence,

Haunting.