Taking Down the House
©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson
Today we bid the house farewell,
last of the last goodbyes.
Bare walls looked down on emptied shelves
as tears welled in our eyes.
Today we bid the house farewell,
last of the last goodbyes.
Bare walls looked down on emptied shelves
as tears welled in our eyes.
I’m writing with your pen today,
the one that filled your hand.
So many things I need to say,
so few I understand.
I think that as the time goes by
I feel your absence more.
The stark finality of it
grows harder to ignore.
But here is the thought that breaks me,
the grief that overtakes me.
In this world, you have left a hole,
unfillable by any soul,
the loss far more than mine to bear;
a wealth of worth was yours to share,
and minus you, a void exists…
your mind, your heart, your wisdom missed.
New Year’s Eve, and a wave of grief
carries me back in time,
back to the days when the air was sweet
and the fruit was on the vine.
The skies were blue; the skies were gray,
but what I loved was mine,
back in the days when the air was sweet
and the fruit was on the vine.
I live in a place where the sun shines bright,
and the mountains meet up with the sea;
but it hurts my heart to have you gone,
and I wish you were still here with me.
I thought the holidays would be
a time of grief and misery,
a stark reminder of our loss,
a multiplying of the cost.
I’m hungry for the sight of you;
the shades, both dark and light of you.
The way you held yourself, your smile
(gone missing for too long a while).