Dispel Shadows for the Now

I know it can't just be me who needs to dispel the shadows of the past and see you ...
as you are now.

Feel it in your Heart, know it in your dreams.

The sense ...between the spaces,
side long glances ...of just missed faces,
those moments after a touching movie or
having read a book that holds a nuance
that sparks the mind,
the song, your song, our song...
to go back - just for another glimpse
held prismatic
in memory.

I heard the brook-trickle magic laughter,
turned my head to catch it...
Was she here?
Was he there?
I know that lingering fragrance.
Is that her daughter?
Is that his son?
The spitting image, the twinkle in the eye,
the curl in the corner of the smile,
the suggestion of an overbite...
and it all comes rushing back.

While for many of us it is the need
to see her or him
just one last time
before we go.
-No recrimination, no judgement
-we were kids back then,
trying on what we thought to be grown up.

My what a shock
reality to be
later on.
Sometimes a disappointment, a shattering spell.
Why go back to the past?
It is not.
Reunion is a move forward to the now of future
ever after
- settling.

But then it is beyond one person too.
It is the sense of unfinished business.
There is the guy  teased mercilessly or spoken ill of behind his back.
I must show him I am not that little child
and that I have a soul that has grown.

It is to come full circle
simply by being in the presence
of those who were very young
but have now come of age
and are wise.
To see them now.
Can they still laugh
and cause me to split my sides in pain
or give me a bleeding nose
simply hearing one of their own funny jokes.
Jack? Steve? Ricky? Debbie? Jackie? Jimmy? Bart? Art? Barry? Cathy? Donna? Kathy? Susan? Ian? Brian?
Graham? Frankie? Michael? Linda? Layla? Shannon? Roddy? Lesley, Lorraine? Hopeton, Vera? Herb? Ron?

And so many more who haunt
the center world.

Can they still dance?
Do they still have the magic?

I have seen for myself,
despite the grown up shape,
years after child birth
definitely not the spry young thing,
and
him with gut of age and shining top;
I have seen for myself,
some of those we held so high
of grace and beauty at 17 now somewhere between
parent and grandparent arthritic guise;
I have seen for myself
that look peering out from those eyes!
You are still there!
In side ...
come let me see you
let us all
know our smiles
from within the other side
the looking glass of life.

Feel us in your heart,
know us in your dreams
those of us who are
remaining.
We wait for you-
may it not be too late
to hold you in our smile
just one
last
time.

But alas,
some prefer the prison
of imperfect and unblemished past
fixed black and white and
fading sepia illusion.
Come forth
into
the light.

LM