Sunday, May 13, 2012

Remembering Light


Do you remember when Annie left me her bone
before going home
with you?
Slid it between the sheets while she panted
her goodbye In my ear -
how sure she must have been that
she would see me again.

Those days were full of wishes, of
finding hope in details, like
the way sunlight swept across the floor
while we prepared our meal the night before,
carelessly sipping Australian wine;
dessert on the boardwalk, blue and green
ice cream melting on her paws, three tongues
slurping flavoured dreams.

But memory colours things, doesn't it, my love?
We forget too easily why goodbye
comes with the morning,
or how sometimes
words are just words
and light is only light.

3 comments:

SMSteele said...

very lovely Marjo. and especially the last lines.
absolutely lovely.

the only thing I'd like is to know the colour of Annie's fur as that would be a nice detail ('finding hope in details' is a very, very nice line btw)

andie said...

Aawwwwww.....how beautiful and poignant marjo...from opening to close. So lovely and wistful and sad. Everything is symbol, or else, light is only light...thank you for this. Glad you are back!

Joanne Epp said...

The doggy details stand out in this poem: the bone in the first line, the ice cream on her paws. Those things brighten the poem, and I suppose make the ending that much sadder.

Also, good title.

Just thought of something: since 'remember' is in the title, how would it work to leave out 'remember' in the first line: 'annie left me her bone before going home with you,/ slid it between...'?