Chasing Leaves Poem by Seamus O' Brian

There's a hole in my heart the shape of a tumbling leaf,
and I chase it across the days of my life;
I chase it over the crumbling years and across
The lands my feet have wandered
Through memories faint
and memories dear
Through weeks of pain
whose hope of end
drags on and on
Through days of bliss like gilded sun-drenched dreams
that drift away like vapored dew
when the breath of morning blows upon them
and i am gone again.
Empty rooms whisper
childhood dreams
And echo the sound
of side wrenching laughter-
'Hey, cut it out! '
Has faded to memory,
cut out long ago and drifting away
on slanting sunbeams
that climb the wall searching
for the end of summer.
And a woman i married
long ago hums a chorus
long forgotten
and pecks through the flotsam
of the days behind us
in search of my glasses
and something
unremembered
And I am gone again,
chasing a leaf
the shape of my heart