Mystery

I'm like a hollow tree,
Just structure strapped to emptiness.
Gnarled by time and grief and lust,
Engraved with fleeting notes of love.

Once I was a vibrant thing,
All life and dreams and wonderings.
But now the world has raked my core,
And left a shell and nothing more.

Through days I stand and listen,
For the coming of the dark.
And long for smiles and tenderness,
The beat of someone's heart.

So close I was time and again,
To catching something pure.
Love remains a mystery,
A mystery and nothing more.