At long last
Marooned having chosen
Not to climb
Aboard the makeshift
Raft of rescue
Instead bidding farewell
To those desperate
Souls chasing the
Dreams of familiarity
I remain here
On the island
Choosing me over
The comforts of
Others knowing that
My aloneness will
Generate personal discovery
And letting those
Seek companionship as
A means of
Avoiding their loneliness
Laying here in
The dark a
Candle winking at
Me from the
Dresser listening to
Debussy delicately bob
Above me like
Late summers fireflies
I remember now
The feeling of
Your finger tips
Dancing on my
Arm like slowly
Creeping Ivy pulling
Me in tightly
Like mother’s embrace
And warding off
The chill of
That one nighttime
So long ago
Our sweet September
Together in Valencia
I don’t miss
You or us
I miss me
When in love
What I see
Now of me
Is like looking
Into a steamy
Mirror seeing the
Outline of something
Like disappearing into
The fog of
Cool wet August
Mornings of Frisco
There but not
Ghoulishly awaiting resurrection
The root of
Ignorant is ignore
Finished with rant
Likely expressed by
Ranting about what
One ignores unlike
Understand whose root
Is stand preceded
By under likely
Expressed by standing
For that which
Is seen as
Less than you
One is noble
The other cowardice
There’s this place
When naked you
Stand downtrodden and
Weary cold shivering
Like that last
Leaf clinging to
The last branch
On the last
Day of October
When someone like
A tugging wind
Pulls you up
And says sweetheart
This thing that
You think that
You are isn’t
You
You are the
Thing that you
Are to me
And to me
You’re not the
Last of something
But the beginning
Of something else
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 