Passed Away

Passed Away

They said you passed away

            when the night was deepest

                        just before the dawn

                                    with the birds yet to sing

            when all alone in your bed

                        you lay fast asleep

                                    as Death dropped in

            when you were dreaming

                        of they knew not what

                                    though it was of me

            who was far away

                        across heartache

                                    in times lost

            where you and I

                        once dreamed of a future

                                    that was not meant to be

Yet in your passing

            you called on me

                        as I slept alone

                                    but in my dream

            I saw your face

                        smiling softly down on me

                                    as was once your wont

            and you touched me

                        tenderly on the cheek

                                    kissed my brow

            then stood gazing down

                        and your face said it all

                                    though you spoke not a word

            but goodbye all the same

                        which you never said

                                    in all the years long fled

I awoke troubled

            by your walk

                        into my dreams and by

                                    your face untouched by time

            and wondered why

                        you had come now

                                    at the closing of your days

            when in all the yesterdays

                        we spoke not on the phone

                                    nor wrote a single word

            yet had I in those times gone by

                        when you found new love

                                    and I seemingly forgotten

            been a restless wraith

                        who walked in your soul

                                    and haunted you troubled heart

They said you passed away

            but not where you had gone

                        when you left before the dawn

                                    with no birds singing

            though perhaps with Azrael

                        the Angel of Death

                                    you sang as you went

            but at the graveside where I stood

                        it was dust to dust

                                    ashes to ashes

            and a dirge

                        I did not want to hear

                                    nor any other dark lament

            yet to those standing there

                        with tears in black

                                    I was a stone stranger

            who remembered our laughter

                        and your silent goodbye as I

                                    dropped a red rose down on you

See also:

000 Haunting/ Surreal – Table of Contents (for hyperlinks to all  poems of hauntings) /viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976757151