Many Goodbyes

Many Goodbyes


An old man stands before the abyss.
I can’t claim to always care.
The mirror reflects a semblance fair.
I fathom more than I dare.

Words fall from the open chasm.
Echoes that used to make sense.
Weightless words of ambivalence.
Now seem to have no relevance.

Someone shows him where I’m going.
As I try to see what I thought I knew.
Of all those tries I thought I blew,
I dreamt a glimpse of you.

That old man is smiling now.
I know how he sets his trap.
There, as a young and beguiling chap.
He finds the keys and hides the map.

I can’t forgive his frozen heart.
He chose to be an animal.
Stalked and ate the heart like a cannibal.
So full of desire and damnable.

He was never kind.
When surely, he could have been.
Take the time to help an innocent?
Or allow another to be confident?

An old man stands before the abyss.
Why do the tears fill my eyes?
Am I too on the path unwise?
At the beginning of many goodbyes?