I have been waiting :]
and the wait was worthy.

I feel like we have a bunch of poems in a single piece. It's like a painting, you do not know where to look, which stroke to admire, which part is your favorite and where does it end. Even with your closing phrase you kept a string of hope for continuity. As though you still have a lot to say, you are not through with pouring your heart out. You have reflected a raw emotional situation without coating it. I was moved with your authenticity and clearance in expressing the different stages that the character have went through. There is realization, awakening, nostalgia, pain, maturity! And a shy justification for the 2nd character. There is so much to pull out from this piece of art.

Thank you Mark, I miss your work, badly.