Photograph
I found a piece of him the other day
Bound tightly within the parchment of time
Tied with a string of purposeful forgetting
Buried under years of mixed intentions
I hadn't gone searching for him
I don't have much use for the memory
But all of a sudden there he was
Standing on the forefront
Of the battle weary plane I call my mind
Smaller then I remembered
Less frightening, far more sad
In retrospect, with time
He had lost his ghoulish ability
To suck the breath from my throat
I found I could stare at his image
Meet him eye to eye
And no longer feel that to stay afloat
I had to be the first to look away
I saw the cracks that were never evident
When I was running for the door
I saw the misery in his bones
That he and I both mistook for rage
I saw the discontent within the man
Instead of the man within my discontent
And I found myself on the verge of forgiving
A man I called a monster
I was ready to let go of the bitter vitriol
I had carefully harbored all these years
I felt I could finally set it down
And simply walk away
But where is the closure
In a one sided apology
How do you make peace
With the wisp of smoke named memory
Copyright © Jesse Andrews | Year Posted 2010
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