A NAME

Loneliness

A NAME

Stomped the wetness from his feet
as he fastens the door
waiting as he had done so many times before.
Listening for the voice that is there no more,
the water streaks and drips from his hands
pooling on the linoleum where he stands.

 

Moving across the empty chamber
suppressing the need to say her name
always dancing around the fringe
as if giving in will cause the memory to whine.

 

Looking out past the room the
curtains fall like rain
and the heavy armed chair helps him bare the pain
a lamp's cold light cast a lifeless glow
as the arrival of colors fade
and the dust of a lifetime ago
settles on things that used to matter so.

 

The days slip from the calendar
 like leaves in the fall.
Too many to make sense of it all.
In the final flow just as the wind blows
the slate is wiped clean
and the look in the mirror spits its sad image back at you.
 At last you speak her name and it is summer again.