Departed

“Departed”

I know what you have seen,
It’s the same place I have been
So many times—aching more
Than I had ever ached before.

The feeling that you want to be somewhere else
Homesick to be anyone other than yourself.
You’re only crying, and we can do so much
And all we want is to feel one another’s touch—
Yes, I have been there, where you are now,
But it’s only as painful as our souls allow.

I felt as though I did not belong…
I knew everything that was wrong
With what you were saying,
And we can sit here, replaying
Every word, every detail; every kiss
And we still won’t see how it came to this.

Sometimes, as I hear the distant church bells
Of a wedding day, I wish I was someone else—
My soul is tied to a world that has departed,
Or never was—just like my beloved,
It was a dream in which we died
From the depths of sleep, the grave replied
To the tears that fall from behind our eyes,
Where, as we die, the dream beautifies
Into a visage of what may have been,
—rising with the sun
Over the lustrous green
Of that world that has gone.

I’m begging you…please don’t waken me.
Let me rest where the dream has taken me.
I am hurt, but I want you to stay
In this dream that we may
See into each other through the pain,
And learn to dream of our love again.

© 2022 Marten Hoyle