If I Were Leaving
IF I WERE LEAVING
Old friends – people that I have known for years – style themselves as monsters while watches and clocks twitch with silent laughter. The mind refuses to hold discourse so I am forced to hold conversations with my feet, walking away from irony.
The best counsel is to turn out the pockets of my life, stuff my backpack with extra nothing
and carry on. Lighten my load. Hit the road. Doors will slam, they have no choice. Houses will bare their window-teeth as they smile me a good-bye.
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: the trail I make is healthier than the one I follow, until I lose my way. But I must walk until I find where the horizon meets the sky, walk as if there is no greater destination than the footsteps I just left behind.
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This bit of prosery contains the line:
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—
–by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., from The Chambered Nautilus
As usual, I was put up to it by those singing voices over at DVerse Poets.
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Chris, An enchanting wealth of personification and metaphor in your what I will call "old soul meandering." I love every bit of it.
ReplyDeleteEvery house I've ever left behind has smiled at my departure, whether I wanted to go or not. Great write! Thanks
ReplyDeleteWow this is profound thought.
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday Christopher.
Much 💖love
Rich language here Christopher. I loved "Houses will bare their window-teeth as they smile me a good-bye." 💕☺️
ReplyDeleteWonderful bit of writing here.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of ‘walking away from irony’, Christopher, and the thought of watches and clocks twitching with silent laughter is deliciously creepy. Your piece is packed with imagery and expresses nomadic life effectively. Kim
ReplyDeleteA brilliant piece. I interpreted it as cutting ties with the past, and finding the new. But there's also a nomadic element to it. Don't know what you had in mind when you wrote it, but it doesn't matter, since it has myriad interpretations.
ReplyDeleteWe are all on that journey in the end. (Kerfe--this is the only way I can comment here, anonymously.)
ReplyDeleteChris, this is by far some of the best personification and use of imagery that I have had the pleasure of reading lately. I am wow'd!
ReplyDelete~David