Of Goodbyes and Farewells

A dead clock, a broken vase

And an old photo torn in pieces

Left untouched for how many decades

Like a desert never been rained

 

Memories of the thousand past

Gathered like piles of snow outside

So many but so distant

Like the fleeting star in the night

 

I stood, in the amidst of ruin

Envisaging the once burning ember

He cackling of the blazing fire

And the moving shadows on the wall

 

You sat there on the bergére

A malt beer on your hand

A Shakespearean book on your lap

And that heart-wrenching look on your aged face

 

I would like to hold you

But fear told me not

For if I did, I knew you'll disappear

Like a cigarette smoke in the thin air

 

Then the radio played the Cascades

A song you love so much like I did

And right there I started to hum

As the scene I was seeing blur ripple

A like a stone thrown on waters

 

The cacophony of the church bell rang

And to the old remnant of that house, I was back

It is snowing yet it doesn't feel cold

I'm not feeling cold

 

Series of soft footsteps echoed around

Along with muffled cries and quiet whispers

Once again, I saw you looking pale, looking older

And on your hands, a bouquet of white peonies and roses

 

I want to hold right now and then so I did

Fear finally did not object

But I couldn't feel you, nothing at all

I wish you could

 

Bells keep ringing on my ears

"Mi dispiace non riesco più a rimanere"

And before the canvas turned white

I said my last goodbye

 

Addio, addio il mio amore

Questo è crudele, ma Fate era stato buono

May we, once again meet

Not in the future but in another world.

 

Author's Note

I wrote this a long time ago thinking about a certain old tale about the 40 days of the dead. That their spirit will remain on the Earth until they have already finished what their ought to do.

"Mi dispiace non riesco più a rimanere"- "Sorry I can't stay any longer"
Addio, addio il mio amore
Questo è crudele, ma Fate era stato buono-Goodbye, farewell my love
This is cruel but Fate had been good

I don't know if the Italian is correct though..