A Long, Long Way from Home

My father lies in an orchard,

My mother lies at his side,

But once, a million years ago

He made that girl his bride.

And love was all that they knew back then

In that world of endless time,

They conjured me in a magic glen

And they shared their lives with mine.

 

But life is merely a dripping tap

With a leak that can’t be sealed,

And much as we’d like to take it back

Once lived, it can’t be healed.

It drips away through our laughter,

It drips away through our pain,

It slips away on our sunny days

And fills our gutters with rain.

 

We’ve seen where that grand horizon lies,

So far away for the young,

And seek to fill it with needs, and deeds

That never will be undone.

But while we’re chasing our dreams and schemes

Ignoring what we were told,

That life is merely a race to run

The people we love grow old.

 

And one by one they depart from us

Like a breath of wind in the trees,

With nothing to mark their passing now

But a stone in the cemetery.

The end of time comes to all of us

When that tap will cease its drip,

That dreaded death that will take your breath,

Your mind, and the rest of it.

 

And people say it’s a void that takes

Our memories, one by one,

My folk live on, though a long time gone

In the mind of this orphan son.

I sometimes sit, and I think of it

On the grey of their granite stone,

And weep for the years they’ve been asleep,

I’m a long, long way from home!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[MomzillaNC]

A very poignant write, Dave. It’s a hard thing sometimes to think on our loved ones who’ve passed and the times we shared with them. To know the memories are all we have left, then to contemplate our own end rushing toward us, bleeding away those precious memories… Your poem perfectly expresses that state of mind.

[Devanshu Rajput]

I regularly roll on your profile to see if there is a new poem by you. I f there isn't, I get to your old writings, clicking on random pages.

I today came across this.

"Change is the law of universe"

I can feel the the magnitude of solitude from you are suffering from. Sharing solidarity by no means can curb the pain, but you have mine.

I also liked the stanza mentioned by Confuser.

"With nothing to mark their passing now
But a stone in the cemetery."

This two lines deeply moved me.

But, dead are those who are forgotten. But, your parents are alive, because there is someone to mourn at there death.

I today remembered what you once said to me. For what does a man toil, in the end to die?

This poem emotional portrays the state of melancholia you are suffering from.

Thanks for sharing it.

Devanshu

[Jane Winters Rogers]

Oh! I just love this poem, it's theme hit me hard, I have been thinking of my parents a lot lately.
You have such a lovely way of writing,the emotion you express stirs my emotions, you are a great
Writer lol now this is my favorite poem of yours! Thank you for sharing. I am waiting for your latest
Book to arrive, I am excited to read what you have imagined in that great mind of yours in the new
Book....I think when we are old, and time is running out, life takes on a loneliness eventually we
Are all orphans just waiting for our breath to stop.

[Chris]

A melancholy flow as you wander yesterdays til tomorrows cease.

[andrew mitchell]

David This is my second favourite write of yours, just brilliant the magic you weave and the classic of all classics so far the return of the wanderer, this one is mms close forget the metre lol

[Confuser]

David: Stopping at "people we love grow old...This is like a tower building more and more lovely vivid descriptions...suttle brilliance...& I love the poem; You are so talented! I could have copied any stanza but here's one of my favorites:

And one by one they depart from us
Like a breath of wind in the trees,
With nothing to mark their passing now
But a stone in the cemetery.
The end of time comes to all of us
When that tap will cease its drip,
That dreaded death that will take your breath,
Your mind, and the rest of it.
I love every single syllable you wrote. Bravo David Lewis Paget! Thank you so so much! Dale