Merlin Poem by Chris Wrzesien

I sat backward in the van today
seats so cluttered with junk
that I had to sit on the floor,
staring at the back window.

Oh look
my mother calls to me,
There is that restaurant
where we went for your birthday,
as it leaves her window
and enters mine.

Each landmark predicted by my mother
seconds before it appears
as big as it gets
before shrinking into the distance,

it reminds me of Merlin the wizard
who claims to live life backward
so that goodbyes are hellos
and hello is the saddest word.

as I watch these buildings receding
I think of us shrinking from each other's view
like I am watching you from the back window
and I think about us saying goodbye
within the next few months
and how delighted Merlin would be
to be meeting you