A Player

I miss you

you've been gone a while now

but your voice still echoes

along the byways of my mind

coloring skies of September

with melancholy hues

These days I sit alone

on an ill-lit stage

waiting for a stagehand

to raise the heavy curtains

and introduce the next act

starring you and me

performing lonely soliloquies

There you sit with your back

leaning towards mine

yet just a whisper away

I hear questions asked

never answered

and answers to questions

never asked

Sometimes I reply with tears

others with well rehearsed responses

I am a player still waiting

to replay yesterday

Author's Note

Graphic credit: Bing Images

Reviews

[icelandicblue]

Oh I couldn't help but think that All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players. Your poem rewinds but what it wants to to is rewrite. Sometimes we get stuck in that loop of the past and we always leave saturated with disappointment. I found your imagery to be really strong and wanted a different ending for you even though I knew it was not to be.

[Joyce S. Greene]

Thanks, Anne, for your very thoughtful review. If only it were possible to redo a scene from our past (after rehearsing a bit) and have everything turn out OK.

[Tom]

Quite sorrowful with expressive overtones of loneliness and emptiness, a now unoccupied space due to someone very dear no longer being around anymore who made up a once original, wonderful, entertaining duo !

Soulfully penned with somber panache !

[Joyce S. Greene]

What a lovely review, Tom. Your last line has me smiling broadly - "with panache," you might say.

[Lydia Shutter]

So very emotive, Joyce. Not sure for whom you have written this, but the imagery is stunning and the metaphor so appropos.
"I hear questions asked
never answered
and answers to questions
never asked"
Those are the questions and answers that haunt us when we allow our minds to roam. May the stagehand raise the curtains and may you be able to take a bow. This is wonderful poetry, Joyce. Lydi**

[Joyce S. Greene]

Just my muse, musing, Lydi. I very much appreciate your very thoughtful and positive review. It means a lot to me.

[Michael G. Smith]

The ghosts of love are many times painful until you union with the one who you know will be with you in happiness of this remaining life. I remember dwelling on past loves when I was alone. I almost found it to be an ailing obsession that I needed to get past, but this was the extreme.

[Joyce S. Greene]

Thank you for letting me know your thoughts after reading my poem, Michael.

[wordman]

yesterday has come and gone leaving memories of another song another time
no reason nor no rhyme just memories of another time

[Joyce S. Greene]

Thanks, Ron, for leaving your thoughts behind. They mean a lot to me.

[Pryde Foltz]

On view for everyone to see but the one you wish would attend the most. A fantastic emotion filled write.

[Joyce S. Greene]

Thanks, Pryde. I appreciate your very encouraging review a lot.

[NeiL ArandA]

Ms Joyce... I sense and felt so much sadness and pain on this piece. It sort of reminds of William Shakespeare's poem " All the world a stage " .
There is also a tone of indifference in this piece which has placed a lot of strain in the relationship.
Each playing and performing a part of silent treatment and rehearsed response. Merely talking but heart
not connecting .
The last two lines " I am a player still waiting to replay yesterday ". This mystify me, Is the subject holding grudges, keeping score or just simply tired and weary of going through the same scene over and over again in her sad and not so working well marriage or relationship.
This piece Ms Joyce is very deep and thought provoking as well . You switch your writing style here. Impressively done .

[Joyce S. Greene]

Thank you, Neil, for your in-depth review. I think you got the main point of my poem when you mentioned that the two were "not connecting." The lady speaking would like to mend that connection - she is waiting in the hopes of redoing her communication with the one who has gone away, with perhaps better consequences for their relationship.

[Anand Sehgal]

A tremendous sense of vacuum you portrayed. A sensitive write. Powerful :)

[Joyce S. Greene]

Thank you, Anand. I appreciate your encouraging review very much.