~
Lying and sleeping
far off in bed,
He heard his name called:
“Pop!” what it said.

“Dear Heart! I’m coming.”
and rose from his bed;
But, searching and seeking,
found nothing, instead.

Empty and silent –
The house was all dead!
The sounds he had heard,
were words in his head.

A memory living;
a long life, he’d led.
Long gone now the life,
and the wife he once had.

Then turning away,
he went back to bed,
The voices recalling
a long life he’d led.

So much for the long life!
where, gone all who lived;
Where voices still bind us,
in lieu of, instead.

A long life behind us,
reminds by what said,
In houses gone silent,
all but for what dead.
~

©2014, Marvin Welborn