Separation
is always such sweet sorrow.
Even long good-byes
telegraph,
but hit
like an unavoidable blow.
The moment comes
complete with the scent
of blood in the nostrils.
The whining high
of a sucker punch.
Dodge it
like in a dream,
syrup slow,
like long winter cold.
The moment approaches,
not like a locomotive,
but as if the surface of the Earth
becomes a great wave,
rising up
to smash down atop us,
obliterating us
and everything we know.
Strange,
how one thing can be removed
from our environment
and it changes
the entire place.
Perspective viewed
through two sets of eyes,
or more,
is not the same
as solitary vision.
It doesn’t matter,
the distance or the duration.
Sometimes we dread a moment,
as we might dread a lifetime.
Anyone who has experienced
true loss
will tell you
that memory
is poor recompense.
But it is our lot
in this world
to come and go.
Born alone,
we drift together,
then apart again.
Tragedy
is life’s favorite device
it seems,
when comedy
does not suffice.
We come and go.
Bonfire bright,
but sometimes low,
as candlelight.
Both realities
true
at the same time.
DJR – 2023
