A Poem a Day (666): Coming home

 
Coming home
 
There is movement in the still,
this frozen solidity, a sense of purpose
in the way it swerves, bends, the twist of
an old, forgotten link. A lift across a wide,
barren ocean that time tried to ride out,
erase into a sepia memory on a picture card.
 
In this return, the separated seek to build,
to overcome, forgive and surmount the void,
yet removing one brick could sink it all.
A lost letter, the sealant of an unlived life,
the date-stamped bringer of re-invitation,
the only wish he could never purchase.
 
Among a draft of faces melting into one,
she waits expectantly for him to cross.
He stands still on the other side,
a broken man with a crooked gait.
Here, in the middle, a numbed sense
of dialogue seeks to open its hands.
 
Copyright Vickie Johnstone, May 12, 2024