Chaos, structure, loneliness,
The “I-can’t-find-it” phrase —
Because some terrors have their nights,
And others have
Their days
Tag: Memories
Bayshore
But a brief moment the sunset lasts
With a growing chorus of crickets then
Comes the dark
Across the bayou, lights I start to see;
And I hear from far away the sounds
Of the distant high school football game
Autumn wraps its arms around me
Sitting on the side of a hill
Looking at the shadows and lights on the water
Feeling the breeze blow my hair
And a faint smell of wood-smoke is in the air
And the scent brings strong memory
As though reliving moments in the flesh
And not merely in thought
Of bygone days spent by the bayshore
Of your golden hair catching the last rays of sunset
Occasionally, a car goes by
And I watch the headlights trailing off
Around the bend
And life, or at least my life, this life
Has unity
(Photo by me. Originally Posted 11-14-2015. – Owen)
To share is human:
Acres of Seclusion
The boy and girl who traveled here
Have vanished in the swirl of time;
In acres of seclusion sits
A cabin in a glade
And trav’ling far, I stop my car,
And breathe in autumn’s snowy clime;
Recalling now, in fits and bits
The promises we made
The key still hidden by the door,
I turn the lock and enter in;
The stove, the bed, still side-by-side
Where once we lay, entwined
And then, anew, the scent of you,
The soft feel of your glowing skin,
The many ways of love we tried
Come crowding in my mind
The promises we didn’t keep
The hours that we didn’t sleep
The hands that we held thoughtlessly
With love but lightly clad –
The acres of seclusion we
Took with us out into the world;
Two broken people, using up
The one last chance
They had
To share is human:
Looking Back on Forever
Looking back on forever, it’s
Strange to think now
Just how fast
It went
The days
You traversed
The far reaches of my
Soul, and filled the universe –
Like a brighter color than any
I’d ever seen or imagined
That was on and in
Everything
But now —
You are like teal:
A lovely, familiar tinge
I might see on chairs – commonplace
Oh, once, all time bent around you –
All my time, at least – and
Even my breathing was
Full of you
My eyes only
Whole in your presence,
My ears heard only your music,
My hands were warm with your skin’s touch
Life and time, however, are corrosive to
Love: wearing it down, slowly,
Imperceptibly, until
It’s gone.
And we, once
Knowing only love, found
The tide had gone out and had taken
Our forever – someplace – far away & longer ago
Looking back on forever, I can see now that we
Gave and took like waves, and like
Waves, we disappeared into
Nothingness
Forevering
As people will do, for a
Relatively short amount of time, before
All went dark before the slow setting of the sun
(“Looking Back On Forever” – 5-6-2016)
To share is human:
A Dating Memory
I wanted to seduce her with my wit;
She started laughing at my clumsiness.
I thought, “I’ll let my style do the bit” –
Then knocked over the wine, and made a mess
She came towards me with a yellow towel,
And I no more my laughter could abate:
Then her eyes shone when I laughed at myself
And I had done enough
For a first
Date
(“A Dating Memory” – 7-5-2015)
To share is human:
Arizona
I drive here as I drove long years ago
When my old father chatted by my side;
He spoke of hist’ry, mining and the flow
Of his thoughts, ever brimming long and wide.
But now I ride alone in silent thought.
My father loved this land, and understood
That life is cruel, and time is precious bought —
And things that
Make you smile
Surely
Good
(“Arizona” – 11-8-2014)
To share is human:
The Weight of Memory
I woke this morning heavy in the thought
Of what it was when you were in the room;
And though these many years have changes wrought,
Your scent’s still in the air, your presence felt.
The dead still brushing by me in my day
With more of wistfulness than nearing doom:
As sense and mem’ry twine in interplay,
Amid the daily cards that I am dealt.
But how you shaped me those long years ago,
The threads of yours that weaved into my loom,
These make up who I am – and will, although
The solar heat of age my mind will melt.
I hope, amid my soul’s infirmity
That you’re not disappointed, now, with me
(“The Weight of Memory” – 7-14-2015)
To share is human:
If Memory Was Made of Glass
If memory was made of glass,
And I could see right through,
Perhaps I’d see it clearly: how
It’s always been with you
Perhaps then I could understand
What led you to each choice:
The demons on your shoulder, and
Your broken inner voice
But such has not been mine, as yet –
Clear-sighted memory –
And so I search these waters for
Some bit
Of clarity
To share is human:
Night Nurse
For eighteen weeks I lay in bed
And fervidly wished I was dead
Until, one night my eyes grew wide
To see this vision at my side
Hi, I’m Owen. Who are you?
Elizabeth, she said. I’m new.
I just moved here a week ago.
The night shift’s all they had. And so…
We chatted briefly in the dark
And as she left, I felt the spark
Of something – something like the dawn;
Of a desire to still go on.
She only worked the weekends, so
I had to wait a week to know
That I would see her face again.
A face I thought somehow a friend.
She came there, just as in my head.
Upon the edge of that old bed,
She sat and looked me in the eyes.
And me? I was in paradise.
The minutes we spoke went so fast.
And then she told me, at the last
That she would not be back, because
She’d gotten day work somewhere else.
I doubt now she remembers me,
But I recall her freckles, eyes —
A love not quite an hour long
A life sustaining exercise
