Displacement

Memories glow 
like photographs
in black and white and shadow.
And I remember
walking home
with cracks in stone to point me.
The quiet fires
in the windows
burning in the corners 
as the memory flickers
in and out of focus.

Shadows smile
into faces,
voices I remember.
And the people stand
so far away
and only look around me.
The blank expressions
of my friends
burning in the corners
as the picture flickers
in and out of focus.

Here I am,
alone and far-
and many years- away.
I'm sure they know
I'm still alive,
though nothing more about me.
And would I find,
should I return,
that I know nothing more 
of them, and nothing more
will I ever learn.

So much lost
but I move on,
and leave them all behind me.
And back at home
I'm dead and gone
and they go on without me.
The closest friends
and strangers now,
it burns a little hotter
in the corner as they dwindle
out of focus.