The signs were clear enough
Like a letter to a friend
Secret none the less
Someone only he could name
For how were we to know?
Assumptions can be deadly
But not as much silence
He was speaking concise
Poetry to be precise
Some sort of loss
A rose or thorn
Blood and ink I think
Or thought
Love forlorn
Departed
Gone
Crystal clear yet I couldn’t hear
Self-absorbed I was
Consumed with “Me” for sure
Intent…indeed!
We watched him bleed
Contented, unrepentant
Did I secretly resent him?
Were his words convicting me?
And by their truth restricting me?
Why couldn’t I see?
Then again, the signs were clear…yes?
You read what he said
A poem about, about, about…
a friend
a lover
a loss
a death
In one breath all
and all one breath
As we recall…or you or I
Thought nothing of it at the time
I’ve lost at love before
Did you?
And how am I to know what’s true?
But this was more
in retrospect, so much
The pain of love
The power of neglect
Reading back I see
Was he crying out to me?
Or someone like me just the same
A secret only he could name
Veiled, maybe.
Metaphors, many.
Poetry, Rhyme, Spoken, Prose
Epitaphs or predictions?
Clarian call
In one breath all
And all one breath
The subtleties of life and death
As I recall or realized
The news came as no surprise
A sad demise by rope it was
Swaying gently on a breeze
Notebooks placed with love
Some scattered lines
Heartbreak rhymes
Did you hear this or that or when
He tried to tell us with his pen
Some written rage upon a page
Like signs they were, just like signs
You read the lines?
I did as well
He was asking for some time, I guess
Maybe he decided yes?
And that was it
Maybe not. Still unconvinced
Could I have stopped it with a word?
It’s hard to tell
Would he have heard?
I remember that day
I was moving
Past his poem
Past his posts
Past his life
Onto the next
and then to the next
Scrolling through lifetimes
Reading not hearing
Listening to my thoughts
Not his
For what its worth
I did hit like
But said nothing
Which makes it worthless
As they say
Silence equals death

TM DiSarro

©2021 TM DiSarro / MindScapes Publishing

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