Saturday, November 08, 2008

Another Place, Another Time

Footprints in the sand
Colors are fading fast
Will the memories last
From far away?



***

It’s funny how a single object or a single incident can trigger distant memories to come flooding back. Of a time and place that is so far away. Tragic reminders of what used to be and what was swept under rugs.

Of how I gave myself away to a world that didn’t want it anyway.

The buildings know your names and they confront me with a tinge of mockery. But now I have the strength to scoff at their facades. They are mere steel-and-stone reminders that I don’t know anyone anymore.

Strange faces ask where you are but they fall on my deaf ears. Maybe that’s what you get when you hear too often the sound of reality crashing and bridges burning.

I accidentally see the pictures and they have lost their soul. They are just frozen slices of time that burns in triviality and severance.

Though the déjà vu can be irresistible, what’s more exhilarating is that I can go back and not feel anything. No remorse. No regret. No laughter. No anything. It’s like a visiting a lucid past from the third perspective... outside looking in.

So this is how moving on feels. Cathartic in a cold, self-seeking way.

I have come full circle. I sought redemption where I fell and found it. Now I just smile slyly at how my emancipation spells discomfiture for the so-called dementors. Hail to the incorrigible laws of nature.

The end is where I begin. Now I am alive and the ghosts are gone. Stand back… phoenix has risen (again) from the ashes.

***

So what will you say to me
If you can talk to me
You can ask anything, I will oblige
But you’re okay with this damaging awkwardness
So I’ll just play it safe
Keep it inside