A Grey Day

A grey day. 
Dark trees against a lighter sky, 
though one hard with iron and thick with impediment - 
we can't see ourselves on the other side. 
Created in the vacuum behind all our love and joy 
as they plow forward, 
these days form as a question, 
like when you rent a vacation home 
that's filled with pictures of the owner's family - 
you wonder about them.

Grey like you feel you're a little bit wrong, 
like you're owed the water, 
or that you can't have it if you want it. 
Rain when there's a good reason to go outside, 
when you have to touch the pavement, 
when solitude is coming for you. 
We don't hate life, but sometimes things are just too wet.

Somber hills in the distance, grey and mute, 
they have nothing to offer. 
Rain on the roof, 
blankets your ears with sound, a soft, final roar. 
Outside, no shadows are thrown, 
you have to imagine them. 

A grey day with leaf-choked ponds and ancient, dirty snow piles. 
Time, desultory and forlorn, drags its feet over you. 
A day of tired mud and night, half begun. 
The clouds are not lonely, but you are. 
A day like when she walked away.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2016

Poem

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Ricci Avatar
April 2, 2017 at 1:14 AM
Hello Doug. A sad and grey day indeed. You express well especially with the line of "they have nothing to offer" how true that line is when life is dark we see or hear nothing and nothing matters. And yes, the ending says it all of sadness and loneliness. Well done in its entirety
Vinson Avatar
April 2, 2017 at 9:40 AM
Cheers, Lisa. : ) Thank you.
Baughman Avatar
December 4, 2016 at 2:44 AM
Interesting about renting a vacation home and seeing pictures of the people that normally live there. You end up knowing them, a little.
Vinson Avatar
December 4, 2016 at 8:47 AM
Agreed, Christina - sometimes you see their kids grow up, some of the places the family traveled to....
Buck Avatar
November 29, 2016 at 6:56 PM
Doug: It seems like there is more story here? Who was "she"? :o) Maybe sometime you will feel like finishing it. :o) Or maybe it's best left unsaid. oldbuck
Vinson Avatar
November 29, 2016 at 8:32 PM
Hey Old buck. For this one, there really is no specific "she." I just wanted to cap the poem off with something. There certainly have been women who walked away from me, and it still hurts to think about them, but those were not "earth-changing" times. Only could be my wife, and we're together for 20 years plus 1 week, doing great.
Adams Avatar
November 29, 2016 at 7:50 AM
We've all had days like your grey day, Doug. They shadow everything we touch. Nice poem. I can feel it. Here are wishes for future sunny days.
Vinson Avatar
November 29, 2016 at 10:06 AM
Thank you, Cona. That was truly "giving in to the feeling" for me. Today, there are patches of blue sky, and that's saying a lot for the American midwest in November. ; )
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