A life measured in a tear

A face weathered by time gazes blankly into mine.
Lines etched into flesh like the rings marking a tree.
Each a tale to tell, a life to unfold be it ever so old.
In ignorance I smile giving hope in life's last breath.
A face young yet to walk those lines, endure those tales.
A heart wanting to care to share yet reality is a lifetime away.
A hand held a tear touched. If only it could tell me what it knows.
Why with that one touch can I not see all those eyes have seen?
With one touch why can I not feel what that heart has endured?
A veil of tears separates us when a lonely heart needs me most.

Releasing all that holds me in this body I wish to travel inside his.
To travel the roads those feet have walked and those hands have felt.
To feel every muscle ache in remembrance; its life, loves and loss.
To flow through each cell in his blood recalling every second of its life.
Memories, dreams unfulfilled, events never to be forgotten.

My tongue tastes the salty bitterness shed from those final tears.
Just for a second I imagine your spark only to shed my life's tears.
Together let me travel with you our tears on my tongue.
Let me take you back to where it all began.