I
Our names, etched on the bottom of a wooden bedframe
Prematurely predicting forever
A dorm room bunk bed teenage legacy
We wanted romance, immortality
But we were only kids
II
A blog
My first blog
Well intentioned, carefully crafted
Photographs of employees serving the community
Meant for the company’s glory
Meant for me
Final entry foreshadowing my departure
III
A school
A toilet
A septic tank
In countries hit with destruction
Earthquakes and typhoons
We set up tents, we set up scaffolding, we set up foundations
We set up a family
I buried my heart in those mountains
Wondering if I’ll ever get it back
IV
A memory, a photograph in your mind
Sunny picnics and snowy sofas
Happiness in an undefined future
A song we wrote for two
We were meant for more
But settled for what we thought we deserved
V
Bits of me, pieces of plaster
chipped away and left behind
People and places holding fractions of human foundation
Scattered over mountains and across oceans
How do we recognize what remains?
Brian, I love this poem, so well written, from the heart, meaningful, so full of symbolism in my perspective. I sense you speak of youth’s naïveté, hope and promise backed by inexperience. Then you walked the earth in a totally different and unexpected fashion than the one in which you knew growing up and grew, matured and left a mark in the world, just as the experience has left a large impact on you. You’ve stepped out of the box and a metamorphosis has started so that who is the current Brian and which is the one from before? I felt all of this. Sorry if I’m way off!
Thanks for the kind words! I love your interpretation and it makes me feel like a more sophisticated writer than I think I really am :). I just submitted this as well as some of my older poems from this blog to a contest so fingers crossed!
Brian, Gorgeous backdrop to you wonderful poem…shades of cerulean blue and violet as if washed with watercolor…Some moments can be profoundly bittersweet…look forward to VI and beyond…I know I do, for you…
You are a poet yourself! And an artist! I hope your VI and beyond is also spectacular and full of surprises 🙂
Awww thanks; you’ve made my day! 🙂