Algebra

I've worked the problem a few different times,
but the figures just don't fit together.
The answer should be six
or four
or two
but your absence leaves an odd number
and I can't isolate the variables.

You multiplied by zero and left me with nothing,
divided by zero and left me confused.
Even knowing that when it's all done,
the parentheses around you will be removed,
that you have not been subtracted from me forever,
I still wonder if anything greater than or equal to this sadness
has ever been felt before.

Yet nothing in an equation can disappear,
it can only be moved,
and as you have been subtracted from my present,
I know that you must be added back to my future.
So I'll continue working the formula,
trying to find order in these operations.
I'll keep my balance on all sides,
and I'll be ready for when it is time
for death to be solved
once and for all.