Where did you go?
You were still there
as I tried to get each
grain of sand back
inside the hourglass
I’d smashed.
Our hearts no longer full
yet still far from empty.
When shared with another
did you disappear?
I can still feel you here.
Where did you go,
shuffling away so slowly?
I still see your trails
on every new horizon
I’ve chased.
Memories morphed
deeper within
the longer valleys between us,
old sun making shadows
of that time.
Where did you go?
My love.
Written for dVerse Poetics: Where does love go? and GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 15:
Write a poem that muses on love, but isn’t a traditional love poem in the sense of expressing love between romantic partners.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
1994ever 
I love this Shaun 🫶
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Thanks Mich 🙏 I was surprised at how quickly these words came about for me yesterday and happy with it too.
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I love how you combined the prompts, Shaun, the direct address that involves the reader, and the smashed hourglass – why was it smashed? These lines are lovely, which I think are a poem on their own:
‘Memories morphed
deeper within
the longer valleys between us,
old sun making shadows
of that time.’
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I smashed the hourglass with my own lack of propriety.
Thanks Kim 🙏
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Shaun, I think the broken hourglass image really anchors the poem. it gives the poem a clear sense of time and loss. I like the recurring question as well. It creates a going feel of searching through the poem. I would have like more sand “language” to carry through the later images. Some of the memory lines feel more generalised, where tying them back to the texture and movement of sand could make the whole poem feel more unified. The reason I say that is I’ve walked more than a few sand dunes in my time. As I read and re-read the poem, I found myself overlaying the broken hourglass with a visual image of sand spilling from it, complete with tracks, sifting, dunes, settling, sifting. Slightly different word choices would bring the whole poem together with that initial hourglass image.
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Thanks for the feedback Dennis. I can see what you are saying and in fact was almost going to leave the poem at just the first line and stanza as they really said everything I wanted. I’m not one for overdoing metaphors usually but you’re right that something could have tied it all together a little better. 👍
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Time has a way of changing things and love.
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Some survives, some lingers, some dies off…
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Great poem! I liked these lines in paeticular “Our hearts no longer full
yet still far from empty”
I intrepret that as meaning it never really goes totally away…
Unique perspective on the prompt 🩵
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Thanks Cara 🙏 I like your interpretation 👍
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ohhh i so loved seeing/hearing your story of gone love…. it was beautifully romantic and flowed so well with wonderful depth…. i found myself lingering at the end of each line contemplating the your vision…
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Thanks so much ms pie 🙏
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