Poem: Aussie Gone and Back

When leaving doesn't solve anything but a different sunset.


Aussie Gone and Back

He left a city of wanderers, for wandering
half across the world to lay it out,
across a more unstructured beach
Respite from the agony of words and women,
on the downside of an upside world

Seems the phrasing followed, sharpened
A clearer head perhaps, in lighter air,
the smoke and age of Europe given over
Seen as all things best are seen,
distanced from lingerings of self-resolve

And yet a half-year saw him back again,
tortured and beckoned by what was left of him
in twisting narrow streets, cobblestone thought
The things that never leave, in flight,
carried half a world to carry back

It doesn’t work for him here anymore, nor there
If a battle’s to be fought, then hunker in,
in stinking trenches of what’s gone, not lost
Stumbling over the bodies of friends and loves,
turning each to look at faces, smell the blood

Some wars won’t end and others will,
but no one ever brings an armistice,
sets the tables of negotiated boundaries,
steps back, salutes, handing over weapons
Such things are history and history’s a lie
Poetry Collection: Corner of My Mind
This poem is included in
Jim Freeman's
poetry collection

CORNER OF MY MIND
available here in print
or as an e-Book
in your favorite formats.