Gregory Richard Barden Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

War Postponed - No Clouds

Howard ...
          I wish I'd known you
               But then ... maybe I DID
     Choices, tastes, motivations, obsessions, demons

(Ah yes, demons ... with no damned respect for protocol)
          Near perfect reflections of my own, finish-to-start
               Like fate put flesh on a hanger for tomorrow
     Pressed in cellophane with a number tag

Every bit I've learned and heard
          Leaves me with a shaking head
               For it is as familiar as my own, unsullied
     They thought you strange ... hermit, recluse

But that was pain, nothing less or more
          The dark revenant that blooms in suffering's shadow
               They never wore your shoes, but tongues wagged just the same
     I know it all ... the endless thoughts, spinning

No quiet, even in your own head ... even in dreams
          The same torturing self-analysis and fault
               Nerves afire, aching for relief
     The horrid sickness of body and mind that replaces it ... forever

I do not envy you your sorrowful, lonely end in the least
          But I DO begrudge you your fate, ultimate
               For the spinning has stopped ...
     Mine ... goes on.

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