Linda Studley

Can't Put the Pen Down…

Archive for the tag “death”

Retrospect

Sometimes,
as the old name ghosts
through the new label.

Sometimes,
as I empty the folders,
shred the contents.

Sometimes,
as I delete them
from database and list.

Sometimes,
the mortality is deafening

Sweet Clover Year

“It’s a sweet clover year” he said
and I thought of you again
in that other sweet clover year when you came to visit.
My best friend thirty years and three thousand miles ago.
A smile, a hug, and the years dropped away
and we walked by the creek looking for fossils.

The sweet clover was in bloom
and you stroked the mustard yellow blossoms,
collected some to dry,
said they were good for something or other,
some sort of homeopathic remedy.
And then you were gone.
Again.

And the years flowed by
but the sweet clover never seemed to bloom so profusely.
Never sent its scent into my open window.
I called, sent a letter, but somehow
I lost you again.

Then one day I typed your name into a search engine
and there you were,
smiling from your obituary page.
Seems you died of cancer not long after our visit.
Did you know?
I think you did.
Thank you for the moments you shared.
It’s a sweet clover year again
and I think of you.

Dreams

That’s when the chickadee landed on my shoulder
and I handed my camera to my mother
to take a picture and realized
that my mother had been dead for years,
but she took the picture anyway.
I would have liked to see how that picture turned out.

 

#254

A Darker Side of Flowers

The flowers started to die long ago,
back when they were picked. Their brilliant
perky smiles belie their terminal condition and,
good intentions aside, we become palliative care.

We arrange them in a vase in the sunshine, keep
their water topped up, and gradually
pull out the drooping, spent blossoms,
move them into smaller and smaller vases,
trim and re-trim their stems
until the last bloom
fades, slumps and dies.

“Flowers for me?
Thank you how lovely. I’ll get a vase.”

 

#182

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