thelibraryrooms

We have become strangers 
Perhaps I will recognise you 
The shape of your shadow 
As the sun passes from morning to night 
In a dull dusk I might see you 
Know the sound of your voice 
You call across a room 
I feel your words whisper and echo 
A fresh breeze blows

I think not
We have become strangers
I will not recognise you
Your shape is a shadow
The sun passed from morning to dusk
In the dull night I can't see you
The sound of your voice is a silence
All of the rooms are empty
The windows are open

You would have been a dancer in 1930s Berlin
With high heels and a dress that swung as you floated
Across dancefloors and bars
Lived life to the full

You would have been a hepcat
Who switched easy to hipster
In the 40s, hanging out in the clubs
Jazz fan and Lindy hop lover

You would have been the rock and roll kid
In the 50s, you would have screamed for Elvis
Fidgeting as you sat in the milk bar
At the end of the road

You would have been a hippie in the 1960s
Long hair and flowers with tie-dyed flares
That hung damp in the grasses
As you dashed barefoot

You would have been drunk on punk
Through the 70s
Freed by speed, crazy for a world
Crowded with noise

What you would have been
In rooms where you danced
In spaces where you laughed
Room on room filled with your past

I lost you

I remember you well

I remember us well

Sunlit castles and laughter

All my love, all my care

I lost you

I remember it well

I remember our joy

How my heart filled

All my love, all my care

I lost you

I remember it well

I remember my joy

An endless passion

All my love, all my care

I lost you

I remember it well

Remember you as everything

My life, my dreams

All my love, all my care

I lost you

Lost myself, lost my life

Lost my dreams, my care

Remember

I never lost

My love

Of

You

This is the last place that we went

I don’t know the day nor the time of year

It was after a long, hot summer

You talked for a while to a cyclist

Human contact that reduced

To a small set of special people

The short walk was enough for you

we sat on this bench in sunlight

You were still cold, wrapped up

Sunshine doesn’t always break shade

Memories gathered round you

You were a most proud man

Who believed in people and things

This wasn’t the last time that we sat

And nattered about small matters

But it was our last time in daylight

The rest was spent inside, in rooms

I still weep, think of that day

Think of the days that came later

Of the strength that trip took

How you stayed an honourable man

Even the pain of fading light

Never took you away

A sickle moon raises above us

For the second time I see a barn owl in flight

The air carries a crispness that this winter has lacked

Muddled with heat and a long hot summer

Our winter is simply too warm

Where is the frost that you loved?

I think again about our last words

I promised you, now I carry that with me

The air carries a promised kiss of snow

Yesterday there was a mist and a touch of autumn

Our winter is no more

Where are the things that you loved?

By the side of the road I see foxes

Close my eyes again and I see you

The air carries the whisper of breath

That sighed from your lips beside me

Our winter came late

Where are the memories that you loved?

I am alone here

Scents, sounds, sights and sighs surround me

The air carries the woe of the world

And a winter that never returned

Where are we, those you loved?

Take me with you

She whispers to an empty room

By the time she was ready

They had gone

Doors closed behind them

As they left without her

It might seem harsh

But this is the way now

She needed to learn

She’s always ready to occupy

Herself with mindless

Activities that take all day

Today was her last chance

They’d seen it coming

She had not

Now she is sad

She wraps herself in blankets of tears

Turns to the empty room

No audience for her grief

She is alone