Poetry 101 Rehab: Missing

you dreamed that
i was
missing,
and that you could not
find me.

(it’s like you always
wanted)

and i dreamed
you were there,
trying
to anchor me.

oh darling,
don’t you
u n d e r stand yet
i am not made to be
here
for you.

(i am not to be
with you)

and in all your years of
searching
you never found me.

so i watched from
afar
as you swept the world with
magnifying glasses.
you chased a dream
you never held.

and tell me,
do you enjoy the
search?
do you love
chasing
after someone you never knew?

i have watched
for decades
and finally you found
her.

she is not me,
i am not her
but you do not
know.

(here is the secret:
she and i,
we are both your
perceptions)