When leaving doesn't solve anything but a different sunset. |
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Aussie Gone and BackHe left a city of wanderers, for wanderinghalf 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 |
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. |