Linking with What's Going On? for this week's prompt "August"
Thank you Mary, Sumana, Sherry & Susan for all you do!
Come join us!
There is no timetable for grieving —
Grief is a snail
It's a shooting star
A walk around the lake
It's eternity
Or frost 'til bloom —
Memories coursing through the heart
It lasts as many heartbeats as it takes;
sometimes all of them.
~Terri Guillemets
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My heart is a train,
and it passes through the town of your last days
over and over again.
True destination August
first day of school,
1972
at a hospital now abandoned.
The time and place are etched on a ticket to board,
and I take a window seat watching things pass by.
I am 61 now
having traveled 52 years since that day.
The view still has the same solemn news,
the shock and the suddenness
like a train stopping in its tracks.
I can still feel the jolt of it,
hearing those unexpected words.
More things were abandoned that day, than a hospital.
Loss is more than death certificates in file cabinets, and
witnessing a last breath.
It is days that bleed into years with something greater
missing.
I hold this ticket, it heads to all the places we will never
go together,
and unspoken words I shall never hear.
A birth, marriages, divorce, and graduations all hold an
empty chair,
the one next to mine by the window seat
the place where August lives forever.
For my heart is a train, and it passes through the town of
your last days
over and over again.
Wow, Carrie, this is filled with heartfelt emotion. It is a poem I can feel deeply. An honest and powerful write! Thank you for joining us at What's Going On? So nice to read your words!
ReplyDeleteOh Carrie, this is so moving, you took me right back to that day, then through all the years since the loss of that essential person. I am so glad you shared your beautiful poem with us.
ReplyDelete"Loss is more than death certificates in file cabinets, and witnessing a last breath.
ReplyDeleteIt is days that bleed into years with something greater missing."
You truly capture the feeling! I'm incredibly moved.
A palpable poem, Carrie. I feel we all go on our life journey "with something greater missing." The emotion every word carries is so impactful.
ReplyDeleteThank you for joining us here at What's Going On.
Your heart isn't a train, Carrie; it's not hard like that! I do love your metaphor though, and especially that poignant final line.
ReplyDelete