long stretch of emptiness

by Michael Estabrook

Alone on the sidewalk walking the dark streets
the wind blowing leaves through the trees
and down along the cold ground. Alone
returning to the dorm missing my girl so bad
I cry in desperation, the future so distant,
such a long stretch of hollow emptiness,
before we would be together, before
I would have her
to myself, always. A feeling
as barren as the earth waiting
for the green of spring, cold as steel
on a frozen winter field.