More poetry

[delga]

Another long poem written some time after the last one. Unsure as to sense-making-ness.

SUMMER

The air lands softly on the
folds that cut your
clothes. The dark clouds gather,
Heave with bitterness; ready
To expunge and bring
relief
to the sticky, breathless air.
The Summer has ended on us;
disappeared like the
Oxygen of our days.
And yet the heat remains.

Remember that time
when we made a playful pact
And you in your nine years’ glory –
so solemn, so silent, devout –
whispered a promise?
We’ll get out of here; one day
There’ll be no turning back. I’ll
drag you with me if
I gotta but we’re gonna get out of
here. And then the moment
flitted off; you giggled -
flicked your plaits -
it was gone.

Remember that day when you
Left town on the bus (the old one
With the grey metal paint
flaking off)? You reached
Your teens in blue dungarees
And cut all your hair
To the nape of your neck
Where it curled
like golden innocence. You leant
down from the door and held
out your hand in a
Wordless welcome– Come with
me. Instead, cheek-to-cheek,
we whispered
So meekly, I remember, I’ll
be back, don’t forget. Left
in the dust and lastly alone,
I stuffed hands into
careworn denim; scuffed
my shoes as I shuffled
on the trek back home.

Remember that Summer
Not long after that? Sandy! My God!
Is that you? I mean, we spoke
on the phone and you
Wrote your letters – on
The backs of menus and grocery
store receipts; scribbled on
The cards of yellowed jotter pads
or scrawled onto twice used memos,
old envelopes, the insides
of cereal boxes – but I never
was too good with words. Sandy!
To see you here, back home, was
Gold, even though you were
Older; your eyes that much duller,
Your smile less easy to charm. I
promised, didn’t I? Yes.
You did.

Remember the long and languid haze
that poured across those
Lazy days? Your hair
had grown back – you
wore it loose now and it
curled still, more softly, around
your face. You never changed – What’re
You doing these days? Almost
Abhorrence to hear
my reply. No you don’t! I’ll drag you
Through! And more quietly, I won’t
go it alone. Still so many dreams;
Still so many needs – you wore it loose
so you could hide
your eyes (not so bright, remember?)
in some shame. God, I remember

How we sat on the porch
after the sun had fully set,
How we spent sweet twilight
Musing on endless, delightful dreams –
You with wild flowers in your
Hair; me and my guitar strings,
Bright red stings
On my fingertips from strumming
mindless chords. We sang
much too loud – the neighbours
would shout (Don’t you kids know
The goddamned time?) and we laughed
in our secret celebration. So
Full of grace, to the lake you
Raced, with the dirt on
Your feet like Earth’s shoes.
When you slipped into
the water, the bright crescent
Moon danced prettily
on your skin; the white cotton
Dress clung to your form—
We sang.

Remember, we sat on the grass,
Bleached out from the sun
and the lovely, lazy heat, by
the water, remember
You drew me with
Burnt charcoal sticks; black
sooty dust on your face.

Remember you said, on the day
before school, This was
our Summer of youth.

Sandy, our Summers were
lifetimes of love and
Laughter – how
Did we get life so wrong? You
dragged me (you’d promised)
through school and through
College and the Summer ran
mindlessly on, all through our Winters
and Springs; all through our days,
Far into our nights: we breathed in
The time of our lives.

Where did we suffer our
distance apart? When did we
lose out together? Because
we were walking, hand in hand;
you pulling me ahead,
We were walking, side-by-side

And then I was walking alone.

Remember you told me, I’m
leaving this game – I sat down
to cry – nearly died at the
words as you spoke them. When had
you found another to
love you? How
could he leave you like this? What of
that child that was
growing inside you—Sandy, what happened
To you? When did

the wisdom of words fail your
Lips? When did the Autumn arrive?
Shuttered away for so
Very long, we forgot what would—
I forgot Fate, those wondrous women,
Spinning and braiding, fastening
their knots; slicing the rope
Too soon.

All that we had - all that
we were - burnt into ashes and dust
At your fingertips. As I sat,
you laughed and grasped at
Fragments of all we
lost. Remember, do
you? So eager to recall the
Songs and the suns
Of those long Summer days
Long past – once long lasting,
Now faded and blushed
with the ignorance of what we knew
then and what we can
No longer make out; indistinct form of
The yesteryears.

You sit on the grass, the skies
Grey above:
The air slides across
flesh like pain. The chorus above
gathers in mass; crying with harsh
Gasping sobs. You shatter the ground,
Pounding with
madness, the fury
of years so unfair to pass you by
When you fought so hard
To hold on – to get out. Now,
trapped by the Earth and the
Air, roar like the cavernous world,
Famished for just one chance
To be freed.
I will hold your hand but
No singing; I will kiss your lips
but no promises shall pass
the folds. You didn’t
leave me behind; you
took my place. Who asked that of
You but yourself?

The Summer has ended on us;
disappeared like the
Oxygen of our days.
Yet somehow, the heat
still remains.

Comments

[sens-nita.livejournal.com]

One of your best, seriously. I love it. (I like how you tell a story; like a mini-epic) :oD