The River

 
“The River”
 
I cannot hear your name without losing every tear,
But oh no! alas! it’s all I want to hear.
They’ve said to me that I should be moving on
All the days that drag by since you have been gone.
But tomorrow is unclear,
And as I’ve said
Your voice in my head
Is the thing I long to hear.
 
I could sleep here forever in silence until I disappear,
But I woke to the presence of a whisper in my ear.
No-one was there—only the moon, like a lost angel.
I longed to say your name, but it was too painful.
I wandered the familiar sky, and I begged the darkened hours
To show me something new—perhaps friendlier stars
But the darkness enfolded, and I knew you were alive
In the arms of some other place I can’t bear to describe.
 
But I don’t want forever, I just want the lonely road to end.
And I don’t know where it’s leading, but I hope it’s to a friend.
But while the sun and the moon and the past align
I don’t know which way leads me what can be mine.
There is nobody here but shadows and echoes, crying forevermore
And by God! It is those tears that I am dying for,
For they feel like you, a river passing all the age long
With sweet recollection of a forgotten song.
But you disappear into the currents that flow
And fade into the distance where I cannot go.
 
I cannot hear your name without shedding a tear,
But it is all I long to hear.
I’m ready to follow you into the river,
Because I don’t want to stay here forever
In the place where my mind goes,
Where nothing breathes and nothing grows.
There is nobody in my sight, only the stars
I have known before—the same sad flowers.
I don’t want to stay here forever with the tears
Hearing you, when you’re gone, in my ears.
 
© 2022 Marten Hoyle