Empty Autumn Sidewalk

Empty autumn sidewalk...this afternoon...
but who walked here...yesterday...
or ten or twenty years ago...on this date...
at this time of day...?
A verse of a song I wrote a long time ago says:
"Absence...is a red leaf slowly falling"...
There have been times in my life...
when the absence of someone...
who once frequented my space...is a palpable presence...
Sometimes...when I see a beautiful person go by...
I say to myself...take a good look...in a few moments...
there will only be space...where that person moved...seconds before...
Empty sidewalks and autumn leaves...
remind me of those now absent...
and their presence...somewhere back...
in what we call "the past"...
as we shrug...and walk on....
.....................Quester.