I'll try my hand at this.


I quickly see you

in a car
getting in a cab
on the bus

old faded army jacket and reddish hair

from behind. Not you.



I envision between white teeth
an orchestra issuing
every sound I need to hear.

My breath caught I do not wish to exhale.

for fear of losing you twice.


ps - there that looks better.

Thats so beautifull and so sad! I can actually feel the ache in my heart !

what is sadder still , maybe pathetic to some lol is it's been almost 20 years.

This is nice. I especially like the catching your breath part... ah, those haunting memories...

I see you from the cab as I drive away
looking so sad, yet a smile is on you lips, a smile to hide your tears.
The smile is brief but yet forever as I know it may be the last smile I see again.
I smile back holding back tears as this may be my last smile again.

Pretty cool Lt.

Although I totally misinterpreted it the first time I commented

The tale behind the poem is tragic and very moving

Oh, man. That reminds me - there was a television show I used to watch and it had some of the best lines in it... I swear. One of the most striking was:

"Love is big. It's a bright light in the universe. And a bright light casts a big shadow."

Kills me.

the only thing that wasn't off the cuff was when she lived close , years ago , and any time I'd see some young woman from behind , tall , thin, wild dark reddish short hair , wearing a worn green army coat ( the kind that comes to mid thigh) I'd catch my breath. a bit of a sick anxious feeling really. yet each time it wasn't her it was like losing her again,

and here it is about 20 years later and I still feel the same. Although she lives in another part of the country ( she's been homeless and has moved alot. I only know where she is where her silent calls come . she has called over the years , only speaking once to tell me she loved me. ( I found out a few years ago she had became schizophrenic shortly after we dissipated , about 4 months . and yeah it makes sense when I think about it. signs were showing up )

and she even 'married' a woman that looks like me - a friend sent me an email but that too has dissolved. strange how much we looked alike however.

I still love her . but she's in a place I don't understand . believes in things that seem crazy. ( like aids doesn't exist) she is ill. and has been for a long time now. Mostly without treatment. She went from a responsible person to someone I don't know seemingly over night.

but according to that friend of mine ( who knows her ) she still exalts our relationship and seems to be trying to replicate it over and over again.

It makes me extremal sad.

I've been asked if I could would I reconnect with her -- only if she sought help and committed to it , but I don't see that as a reality. No she doesn't drink or smoke anything. no drugs. vegan however.

Ripley,

That is sad. The older I get the more I believe that the mind might actually learn to let go of things if only the heart would let it. Love is just too big sometimes. It kills us but then we need it. Makes me wanna scream.

Oh, and let me add that from all of that stuff (the good and the bad) comes the truest verse. So, keep it up.

Great poem, Ripley!!!

The way you write it gives it flesh, makes it a living, breathing thing.

Talented...yes!!!

I would agree! Lovely writing... but Y4 the PS-NEVERMIND part? Wha?
Was there more we missed out on?? Or more 'I' missed?
Hope not as I like the peom.

That part is the most powerful to me. It's so strong, yet so futile at the same time.

Dear Lady, what a beautiful soul you possess. I was deeply moved.

~V

The tragedy in this is pure and wholly saddening. Dreadfully beautiful piece.

bravo!!!! I may be one of the sites youngest members but i have read my fair share of poetry. now that was good,,,, are you sure you haven't done this kind of thing before?