Lost & Found
© Kennedy James. All rights reserved.
i see you there in the
Lost & Found
half-hidden under a collection
of scratched sunglasses
and a decent fountain pen
bleeding black over
foreign scribblings
on a postcard from
somewhere in Spain
you are wearing
your sky-off-blue frock
the one with a crinkled
white paper rose
pinned just beneath the neckline
and though your hair
is a tattered nest of bees
your bright red lipstick
is only slightly smeared
above your soft upper lip
and though your eyes
are hidden behind
a cracked drapery of faded
sea-green eyeshadow
underlined by teary rivulets
of charcoal mascara
i remember the clarity
of your bright look of love
and have returned to find
what i so easily lost
here at the counter
after so many
winters-waiting
i wonder if you wonder
where the wings of time have
carried me
or if you are angered
by the choices i made
to travel roads mapped only
by the dullest stars
leaving you to wait
with a simple sticky-note promise
pressed against
your patient and loving heart
a vow that quickly
became unglued
and fluttered
in an unforgiving parabola
to the cold floor
of your despair
where i can only guess
that your search for hopefulness
robbed you of love's
most vital air
and left you gasping
and grasping
for a reason to believe
in something
you could trust
something hidden behind
the obvious
until at last
you must have questioned if
that something was ever really there
at all
i'm not asking to be forgiven
for the indifference
of my past
i can't patch
the cracks in the windows
of your soul
stained
translucent white
by the frost of words
that never arrived
i can't build an altar
in a church
of steel and brick
to protect the holiness
of your unfaltering beauty
from a future scare
i have only a simple prayer
that might rekindle
what was there
hoping to find fire
in the ashes
of what went cold
hoping you will turn to me
open your eyes
and see
that i may not be
what you wanted
or even what you needed me to be
but i'm here
to reclaim your heart
or with a simple goodbye
to set you free
Lost & Found
half-hidden under a collection
of scratched sunglasses
and a decent fountain pen
bleeding black over
foreign scribblings
on a postcard from
somewhere in Spain
you are wearing
your sky-off-blue frock
the one with a crinkled
white paper rose
pinned just beneath the neckline
and though your hair
is a tattered nest of bees
your bright red lipstick
is only slightly smeared
above your soft upper lip
and though your eyes
are hidden behind
a cracked drapery of faded
sea-green eyeshadow
underlined by teary rivulets
of charcoal mascara
i remember the clarity
of your bright look of love
and have returned to find
what i so easily lost
here at the counter
after so many
winters-waiting
i wonder if you wonder
where the wings of time have
carried me
or if you are angered
by the choices i made
to travel roads mapped only
by the dullest stars
leaving you to wait
with a simple sticky-note promise
pressed against
your patient and loving heart
a vow that quickly
became unglued
and fluttered
in an unforgiving parabola
to the cold floor
of your despair
where i can only guess
that your search for hopefulness
robbed you of love's
most vital air
and left you gasping
and grasping
for a reason to believe
in something
you could trust
something hidden behind
the obvious
until at last
you must have questioned if
that something was ever really there
at all
i'm not asking to be forgiven
for the indifference
of my past
i can't patch
the cracks in the windows
of your soul
stained
translucent white
by the frost of words
that never arrived
i can't build an altar
in a church
of steel and brick
to protect the holiness
of your unfaltering beauty
from a future scare
i have only a simple prayer
that might rekindle
what was there
hoping to find fire
in the ashes
of what went cold
hoping you will turn to me
open your eyes
and see
that i may not be
what you wanted
or even what you needed me to be
but i'm here
to reclaim your heart
or with a simple goodbye
to set you free
© Kennedy James. All rights reserved.
I probably should just pick out my favourite lines, .. I feel like a drive-by commenter... and your pieces do deserve a thorough response... however...
ReplyDeletefluttered
in an unforgiving parabola
to the cold floor
of your despair..
nice one. I like the math link with unforgiving. Math is, isn't it? no wonder I was never really brilliant at it!
Yes, mathematics, geometry actually ... I've always loved math, and the image of a parabola has always been stuck in my mind — a mirror-perfect U shaped curve ...
DeleteAmazing grace! How sweet the sound
ReplyDeleteThat saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
Your poem reminded me of this Christian hymn ...
Seeing is everything ... some people just look, while others see ... something like that ...
Delete"i wonder if you wonder
ReplyDeletewhere the wings of time have
carried me"
Someone once told me that we meet angels in life. Some are here but for a season and then they are gone; some linger for a longer time; and some stay with us throughout life as a ghostly presence, forever waiting to be brought to mind. We wonder if they ever think of us, just as they forever wonder if we think of them.
~Manfred
Hmmm ... there's a poem in there ... the distinction between angels and ghosts ... my ghosts are ever-present ... my angels not so much ...
Delete