Realization on a Unitarian Pew; on the First Day of Advent

I used to think the empty space beside me in this Sunday pew
was a you-sized silence, meant for you, my arm around your shoulders -
but I have time and time again had to remind myself that
it's not you here, but an empty space, a space much bigger
than you would have allowed yourself to be,
an empty space as big as the future and of all the thousand
bodies and of minds that could fit in this place,
my arm around the shoulders of The Universe,
and my texts and words are all that sit here beside me
in the pages of my journals, and so I listen to the voices
seated by myself, that are myself, and learn to wrap my arms
around and hold my heart to fill the empty space enough
with me and all my silence and make room
for all the future minds and bodies that will pass through,
and maybe one day, finally settle himself here,
beside me.