In your footsteps

I took a drive to that spot

where the GPS said

ignition off

It's not the place

to go for a walk

but you did it anyway.

I took a walk to that spot

where everyone thought

you went for a hike

it was hard to find your footsteps

but I did it anyway.

I took a break at that spot

where ocean meets cliff

no path, just a dead end

I tried to catch your stray thoughts

but they vanished, anyway.

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

The poem sounds as if maybe the predecessor might have jumped from the cliffs. Suicides have always fascinated me. It isn't dying that's difficult though, it's living and making that life have meaning. A man once asked a sage, "What is the meaning of life?" And the sage replied, "It is the meaning you give it." If we consider the suicide might have been loved, it seems a rather selfish act on their part. I'm reminded of a song by Leah Andreone, "I Hate You Didn't Try" I had a good friend who shot himself in the head. He was very depressed because his girlfriend was in a coma as a result of a car accident. He had been driving and was drunk when the car crashed. After his death, the girlfriend came out of the coma and fully recovered. But there was this guy that had been his enemy since they were kids. And the girlfriend ended up with him. I always thought that, a cruel twist of fate. But my friend was far beyond caring by that point.

[SleeplessVolcano]

Thanks for picking that up - I corrected it. Indeed, my brother is the one who jumped. I attempt to find peace when trying to come to terms with it through poetry. Thanks for reviewing.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Listen to that song by Leah if you get a chance. I don't know who she lost but the song is heart wrenching.

[Ken Simm.]

This is simply a heart catching use of the language. Superb.

[Lilly]

"I tried to catch your stray thoughts
but they vanished, anyway."
I love these lines. Yearning to understand what brought them to that spot, to that moment.

[SleeplessVolcano]

Thank for reviewing. Sometimes that is all that we can do - yearning to understand.