Footprints

I watched your footprints, not feet,
lead away from me.
Thought maybe if I thought
you were only a ghost
feelings could be phantom too.
But when you stopped walking
and my eyes caught up to
the souls of your feet,
I felt. Meaning materialized
and senses were no longer pallid.
Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt so much
if there weren’t another
set of footprints
running alongside yours.
She had feet too.
She wasn’t a ghost either.
She was the steady stream of companionship.
The footprints
I could never be.