Years passed,
Since that stranger,
Told me,
A loss - would be - restored.

Years pastward,
As the loss lingered, 
Leaving me,
Wondering whether she was -

A teller of truth, or 
A doubt-reader who,
An assuager of
My luminous fear. 

Years afterward,
The loss restored, 
Leaving me, 
Wondering whether I -

Believed against the facts and fate, 
or whether I,
learned from her - to hope -
amidst the encroaching doubt.