What would be your choice of remembrance by the loves you leave behind? |
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ImmortalityIt’s the nature of me and you,to yearn for immortality It’s always been, will always be, a shared essence And I’m just a man, asking the same, long after I’m gone Because I’m as bad as the worst and as good as the best You’re the woman of my manliness We have us in common And yet a sense of deathlessness is not what I’m after I’m really quite content to drift away, unremembered, except in the mind of you The woman I love so well, who loves me too, as long as I am here to know and love It’s in your mind I need to be immortal, unforgotten Not in your heart, it will belong to others along the way But in your memory, where all loves find their source Untarnished, improved by obstacle and distance What greater obstacle than death? What greater distance? What brighter light could shine on passions left behind? Accomplishment, as a legacy, isn’t what I hope to leave Fame in the arts is out of reach of my best work Still, there’s such a burning need to be remembered Remembrance is permission, your approval when I’m gone So I’ll choose my own immortality You’d allow me that I choose thunderstorms Think of me when they roll in Earth and stars, the sun and moon, all too commonplace Preference is all that’s left to me and all I have, I leave to you, dramatic, unrestrained Don’t think of me in common storms, but only when lightening bolts the sky and thunder boils They come so seldom These romantic masterworks are scarce Announcing themselves, not shyly like I might if I were there, but with all the cymbals crashing So unlike my quiet love for you, these storms were here before me, rolling through your hills They’ll be here when we both are gone Remember me in them |
 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. |
