"Still Life"

For Dona Lou (1949 - 2002)

I never imagined
   what it would be like
To feel the earth stand still -
But now I know...

The desperation felt while a plastic bag
   is pressed against your face,
The paralyzing stifling which still life can be,
How it feels to have missed last call
  or to be deaf to the last dance,
The despairing gluttony of all
   we have left unsaid - unspoken and unwritten...

All the while the earth stands still
You are not here to divide my grief
Because it is your parting from it
   which caused the earth to stop for me
You cannot console me about my loss of you...

Now I am the one without a chair
   when the music stops,
And I am the one who is dizzy
   because the spinning has ceased,
And I am the one walking along - alone
   with no one to talk to but the moon

I never imagined
   that you would leave me so suddenly
Without the slightest clues or warning
And all I can hear is
   the pounding of my selfish broken heart
As I read the words you left behind -
   finding you on every page of this still life.

©2002 poetheart

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