{ pathetic.org }
 

Only They Will Remember

by Alex Chambers

A broken-winged bird in an open window room.
Outside, pitiless blue skies mock and bloated clouds giggle,
The ghost of warm euphoria lingers like the tingle after a touch,
but only to serve as a juxtaposition to this bleak resignation.
Useless, shattered wings thrashing, spattering droplets,
clawing feebly for lift as the waterline incessantly rises.
In this room it rains and the deluge will never cease.

Though now caged, this battered bird has flown before,
over innocent brooks and overgrown brush.
Below, young lovers cradled in the shade beside a sturdy oak tree.
A swooping, branch landing shook leaves free to flutter down beside them.
Oblivious in their symbiotic embrace, they will not notice the conspiracy.
Deafened by arrogant youth they could not hear the bird's warning,
a shrill, frantic prayer that envious fate would somehow let these two be.

The moon is a jealous widow, her glances blacken the sky.
She rises, cloaking trees and animals in a comfortable, numb amnesia.
Just as sometimes the sun forgets to chase away the bitter black,
two lovers can forget to brace themselves against the tide.
Only they will remember what it meant to be there then,
for the magic that certain moments have can solidify molten memory into stone;
chipped and carved like an ancient hieroglyphic, but miraculously impervious
to wind and tectonics as the restless world moved steadily on.

Separated by the burdens a decade accrues,
these wet walls stand between the pointless present and the promises of youth.
And through that bastard window, carried by the wind floats a familiar tune;
sung for another now, but even soaked ashes seem excessively easy to renew.
The heat from the fire resonates with the visions in his head,
a soothing anesthesia dulling the ache as he climbs one final time
towards the center of the sun.

07/24/2008

Author's Note: Revised

Posted on 10/22/2009
Copyright © 2024 Alex Chambers

Return to the Previous Page
 

pathetic.org Version 7.3.2 May 2004 Terms and Conditions of Use 0 member(s) and 2 visitor(s) online
All works Copyright © 2024 their respective authors. Page Generated In 0 Second(s)