Just Beyond the Horizon

This poem is dedicated to my father.

Just beyond the horizon, I say. Just beyond the horizon,

And then, I will reach you,

And then, I will be able to hug you again,

And then, I will finally be able to breathe again,

Just beyond the horizon.

They never mentioned that the horizon never ends,

It taunts me with its close proximity as I struggle to reach it,

So close that I could touch it, but so far that my feet ache as I run to meet it,

So far that hope wanes from my body to form a burden on my back,

So far, the horizon is so far away.

Maybe if I don’t reach the horizon, it will be ok,

Maybe I can somehow form twenty-six interchangeable letters into a memory,

And maybe I can somehow make that memory tangible again

Because I swear I can feel comfort as your touch crosses my mind,

And because I swear I can hear music as I think of your voice

Somewhere in the horizon.

Or maybe I’m just too broken,

Too broken to properly grasp the grave reality of the situation,

A reality that feels too rough, smells too raw, tastes too bitter,

A reality that was once my manna dew is now an apple above my lips and I am Tantalus,

And I was promised that once I got there I would see you,

But the horizon never ends.

Just beyond the horizon I hear you amongst the angels,

And I so long to join you, to be merry again, to feel glee,

Dear Lord, I am weary, and this day is bleak, and my heart hurts,

And it pains me to know that you are there,

But I am blocked by the soulless horizon.

Rivers cascade down my cheeks,

And I am afraid that I have lost because I am too weak to go on,

The Lord hath taught my hands to war, and my fingers to battle,

But I was not prepared for this fight,

I could not beat the horizon.

But one day�"one day�"I too will reach beyond the horizon,

My sorrows will go, my burdens won’t plague me, my heart will be whole,

I won’t know sorrows, I won’t know burdens, I won’t have a shattered heart,

Just beyond the horizon, I say. Just beyond the horizon.

One day I will see you again, just beyond the horizon.

 (Dedicated to Lawrence E Drew)