I Cannot Say Goodbye
I let you go,
But haven't said
Goodbye;
I clutch at the ether
Begging one last reprise.
Beautiful boy-
The death-light beckoned
With riches of spirit unimagined,
Yet you lingered, delaying relief to secure ours-
Ultimate love!
At my sign, though,
You were unhesitating, certain-
Springing from the block at the starting pistol.
Even then a tender goodbye:
A wisp past my face your final caress.
Memories are insufficient, hollow.
I hadn't drunk enough of you;
You hadn't tasted enough of life.
The projector has broken
And I hear voices of sensory-deprivation psychosis.
I can let you go
With unselfish mother-love
But I cannot say goodbye;
I track you still across the sands of my soul
Collecting memories as a robin gathers bread crumbs in the snow.