Rivers And Boats Poem by jim hogg

I don't know what you look like now
I burned the bridges and the boats
And this old photograph I've found
It shows you standing by the road
Your windblown hair across your face
Just as I turned and looked away

I always got my timing wrong
I couldn't wait and you were gone

I heard your voice a year ago
We talked about so many things
That maybe you'd be coming home
But all those words on broken wings
Fell down the well of endless time
To echo through some restless night

I never quite caught sight of you
I never quite knew what to do

I sometimes think of yesterday
And all the strange things that it brings
That searching for the holy grail
The honesty and innocence
that maybe blindness shielded us
until we understood this world

For looking back it's clear to me
It wasn't what it seemed to be

Sometimes I dream that you're still here
Just doing ordinary things
You fix your stockings, brush your hair
Then suddenly, you've sprouted wings
You were no angel, no white flag
And I know you're not coming back

I never saw you as you were
When you were all I wanted then

I don't know if we'll meet again
So maybe I should say it now
I always tried to play it straight
But couldn't free myself somehow
I saw you as a state of grace
And built myself a bolted gate

To save me from the love that grew
The way a hurricane might do

But still, it's safe enough to look
At this old photograph of you

1 5 12