Goodbyes

©  2012 Steve King

All rights reserved

So much formality I should not force—

this coolness and austere reserve,

the unrelenting conversation

disguising just how little

there is now to be said.

Soon there will be silence,

and phantoms better suited

for this ceaseless shadow play;

the shrinking reservoir 

of common memories

must serve to drain the leavings of each day.

Then shall I drink quickly of the lees,

and wonder freely of what might remain:

listening for echoes where once were sundry sounds;

inventing better days that should have been.