Part I Requiem_When All This Is Over

When all this is over
I will remember the distance and the silence between two –
long like a ribbon of gloom.
I will remember the around the world journeys I took
Yet the most terrifying of them all –
descending deep into my heart and the crevices of my soul –
looking to escape the chaos in my mind.

When all this is over,
We will remember the silence that could speak,
We will remember the walls standing by to listen,
The emptiness so profound and laden
We will remember goodbyes that were unsaid
Letters left unread
Messages that weren’t written in time
And lovers that couldn’t touch.

When all this is over
We will remember how places to be became stories we told –
Memories we longed for,
Destinations we dreamt of,
And miracles we hoped for.
We will remember how we learned to live with our shadows
To make room for our ghosts
To know grief as he greeted us at our doorstep
Not knowing in whose house he welcomed himself.

One imagines not of prisons –
Without the stench of dead dreams and decaying hopes,
And the heavy footsteps of the cold guards,
Metal doors and the clatter sound of turning keys
When all this is over,
We will remember when homes became prisons
The smell of slow brewing coffee and baking bread
Feet dangling on the window ledge as if they forgot how to be on the ground
As if they forgot how the sand felt beneath their feet,
When dreams became empty and devoid of colour
Whilst the morning sun is replaced by another sigh.