Goodbye

A fleeting stroke of final words, a scrawl,
The sun, which dies within the eyes' dim glass.
Reflection of the dreams beyond recall
On images that shimmer as they pass…

Without a single backward look, a trace –
A step into the open door's dark mouth…
The smirking sunset, with its ironic grace,
Won't warm us now… But look, I pray, look south –

See how the brightest days go flickering by,
Collapsing in a shower of heavy sand;
The days we were alone, you and I,
And when, as strangers, barely hand in hand,

My fingers chanced to touch your own by chance,
And sensing that the path we had to tread,
Like some great river's unrelenting advance,
Would lead us somewhere, someday, ahead…

You will forgive me for the evening's light,
The bitterness of feast, the fire's cold ache,
The no-return of years that take their flight –
You will forgive. And for my own soul's sake.

Lost somewhere in the fabric of your fate,
The sea-salt truth of what was real is cast…
You cannot know how I appreciate,
I thank you for this very pain amassed!

How I would swallow back the unborn cry,
Would stumble – and then fall into the deep…
But now, within this moment starry-high,
As I am leaving – I beg you! – one look keep…

22.12.2005