Hallway to Nowhere

Tag: memories

  • You Again (Poem)

    every Sunday I walk down these streets

    these streets marked by your absence

    these streets empty but filled

    full to overflowing with you everywhere

    I see you where you’ve never been

    on the corner waiting besides that one broken sign

    in a tea house standing patiently beneath a neon cup

    at a bus stop sitting disdainfully on a dirty bench

    you had left where we lived before

    to make room for something but I never knew what

    now that I’m here in a city we never dreamed of

    I find you back and back and back

    tears burn just as much in this place

  • A Complicated Death (Poem)

    How to mourn you?

    Only with detachment can I find room

    For kindness and compassion towards you.

    You struggled just as all do,

    And I wish to think you did your best.

    Some of your actions and words still linger with gray-tinged hurt,

    But now I can feel sorrow over these rather than resentment.

    When I speak at your service,

    I will recount one of the few memories I have

    That cast you in your best light.

    May you find in this death peace from suffering,

    An end to chasing illusory dreams, and the fade of your red anger.

    I laid down the burden of these long ago.

    Now may you do the same.

  • Elegy (Poem)

    What makes a life well-lived?

    We see but the observable evidence

    In the actions and words that the departed left behind.

    Thus we judge accordingly.

    The landscape of their inner life remains their private domain,

    Albeit hinted at in the detritus that remains.

    We make our surmise from these scattered sherds,

    With knowledge that this reflects more our experience.

    We hope that those who’ve gone did have these:

    Joy and love and happiness and peace.

    Let us grant them that as we lay them to rest

    Using our memories of them for the healing of the world.

  • For Edgard (Poem)

    So much love continues your presence here.

    Our laughter and tears are testament to your being.

    No shadowy ghost that haunts,

    You remain a warm solid comfort for us all.

    Our stories and memories share your light,

    As we move through our days and nights.

    We remember your smile, your kindness, your generous spirit.

    We hold these in our hearts with gratitude

    And give thanks for your existence.

    You live on, beloved friend, and we cherish all that you are.

  • The State Of Not Being Present (Poem)

    The train sounds its mournful cry.

    They are gone now,

    No longer present to hear the whistle,

    To see the graffitied cars roll past,

    To feel the ground rumbling beneath their feet.

    I can say no more

    Let us have a cup of tea

    And offer the latest from China.

    But I can hold them fast

    In memory and by recounting the many stories

    Of how they lived while they were here.

    Love and all we shared does not disappear.

  • How We Remain (Poem)

    You still live on.

    Not in some celestial hall,

    Separate from those you left behind,

    And watching them go about their lives.

    No, you remain present

    In the stories we tell of you,

    Among those who knew and loved you.

    And you will reach strangers even yet,

    As these are shared,

    And people see your name to ask,

    Who was this?

    While we are here to remember and tell

    And all those who come after us who have heard,

    You will live.

  • End Of The Year (Poem)

    How did I number my days and nights this year past?

    They sometimes seem to stretch so agonizingly into forever

    Yet indeed they flee so razor-sharp fast.

    I have found myself lost in memories , immersed in songs,

    Even given to dancing, and tried to help right some wrongs.

    Like all , I’m weighed in the balance, the scales will be set.

    I’ll not ask nor expect mercy. Just Accept what I get.