DO NOT LEAVE ME NOW

DO NOT LEAVE ME NOW

The water caresses the peaceful shore,
As summer begins its long slow fade.
Harp strings vibrate with the balmy wind of evening
Before night falls in its mad tirade.

Life is hard for everyone so how can I complain?
What care have I of this mortal coil and all of this earthly pain?
Sometimes you lose and misfortune it wins,
But the hardships they are just as punishing now as they were then.
Trials come and they go, it's too late to ask why,
There is no peace yet in the residue of all my days gone by.

The dog in my lap looks up eagerly,
Laps up the wine I've spilt on the porch cushion.
As through my mind the past and all its pain comes pushing.
His inquisitive brown eyes melt my loneliness into the sunset,
Try to banish my burgeoning tears and silence my regret.
Later on, he will run by the seashore, chase apparitions, bark at the moon.
Welcome music to these ears, as time so dear slips away so soon.
It's a long road I've traveled for this final fling.
So I try to enjoy, just sit sipping wine and remembering.

My love he watches from the door,
He is worried and I can tell.
The pain of the flesh is bad enough,
But recrimination is hell.
I can remember every bad misstep, every secret sin.
I cannot yet forgive myself the places that I've been.
It's a fight we all must fight alone, a duel to the death,
To prove this life was more than just a stale parade of wasted breath.
I used to be a conjurer, I used to have the spell,
But my powers are deserting me and my thirst it will not quell.
There was once a method in my madness, once a road map home.
Now there's only sadness, and we all must die alone.

Long ago when I was young,
My life a song still half unsung.
When there was still time to remake the past,
To fortify old dreams.
To build a fortress that would last,
I could outrun the pain, go twice as fast,
Now it has me in its grip,
Into the gap and the chasm I slip.

Long ago before disease set its claws upon me
I could summon quiet into my nights like an ocean fog,
Breathe it through my pores.
A resilience that buoyed me through sunshine and through downpours.
Sweet comfort reigned and sang me lullabies,
Brought cool water to my feverish brow,
Halted my pain and stifled my cries, 
I pray those lullabies do not leave me now.

-Bruce Potts
Copyright 2013
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED