Live For Then

Image: ‘Breakwater’ by 강춘성

Live for now.
Don’t dwell on what has been.
In that way lies the sins
Of bitterness,
And the many hells 
Of regret... 
I’m told. 
And yet.
The older and more forgetful I become,
The less I can recall
The planes of your
Face.
The comely way you walked.
The warm tones
Of how you talked to me.
And you’re not
Here. 
Are you?
Not now. 
Now the past
Has claimed you. 
That’s where you live. 
Dimming
With each day. 
Greyer than the day
Before. 
And even then,
The best of you
Is masked by a stark
Reminder
Of how those 
Locusts stripped
You bare. 
I must fight to 
Keep my
Focus on a better you. 
The awkward, 
Impish other you.
The one I talked
To until early light.
The bright and 
Slight, and shy, and 
Sometimes frightened you. 
But even then,
I’m not to be 
Commended for 
Reaching back into
The dark and fading
Past. 
Live now, 
They tell me. 
Live on. 
But how?
When you live there. 
When you live then. 
Just a slim strand of
Frail memory between us.
Keeping us
Together.
But failing more each
Hour.
Until, that brilliant
Showering spark of your soul
Has gone. 
And the past 
Has swallowed you
Whole.

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