In the Shadows
I was dumbfounded when she said that she remembered niether me nor my wife. She remembered my place of employment, my superior,
and my closest co-worker, but not me. My continued attempt at aiding her memory only rendered, "no recall". I taught her and her brothers
in the church youth meetings. I was close to her parents, and though she was a bit younger than me, she was indeed old enough to remember. However, when it became clear she could not recall, we politely ended the phone call. Undoubtedly, it was time to cease and desist in the pursuit of the conversation.
I concluded that yes, she last saw me more than 30 years prior, but I must have stood in the shadows. I understood and refused to accuse or blame, because surely I must have sat under tall trees where the leaves and limbs deflected both the heat and the light. Moreover, for some reason, a shadow was also cast leaving little to no reflection of me.
Perhaps I was an unnoticed frame on the wall. Or could it be that I was a candle in a drawer, a voice unheard, a village in a valley, a pluto in a vast galaxy, a planet in the measureless universe, and not a city on a hill?
It may or may not be of one's own choosing to be cast a faceless image in the crowd; but it's helpful to know if one is destined to be a voiceless shadow person in a room. Perhaps I was quiet and colorless, non agressive, and more tolerating than I should have been. Perhaps I was interpreted as weak; and if so, I must confess; 34 years later, it caused a bit of annoyance and just a little pain. But I must add, it was not enough to cause a change in the essence of me, nor to drive me insane.
04092017PSContest, Any Poem In June, Laura Loo
Copyright © Curtis Johnson | Year Posted 2017
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