POEM: “How Soon, Now” — Like your marriage / with an expiry date / you forgot to erase.
How Soon, Now?
Oh, the honour we pay,
the grave path we pave.
Paved: with the regular walk
of doubts of finding love again
so – we stay.
Sat on benches, staring
at rocks, dead bodies beneath them
“Come alive!”
“Come alive!”
We say.
Go away, you say to them.
For it they never met you
would you burn like this?
You’re dead ashes
in the grey.
Oh, the honour we pay
To dead loves by loving again
Well I can NOT!
Build a shrine: mourn the forgotten.
So – I stay.
Sat on beds, wondering,
at memories reconfigured falsely.
“Go away!”
“Go away!”
We say,
Go away, you say to them.
Where to shelve memories
and to move on publicly, gracefully.
Stay single, waiting
For some day?
Is it too soon?
When will be the day?
What lasting love
was here to stay?
What once was sacred
is last week’s bread:
Hardened, old
and stale.
Like your marriage
with an expiry date
you forgot to erase.
Sylvie Hill, Montreal, December 7, 2019