.
she parked her blue truck in the driveway
right where I parked my truck many years ago
she stepped out of the truck and headed for the porch
just like I had done many years ago
she took off her sunglasses, paused, and then put them back on
just what I had done so many years ago
she climbed the steps to the porch and did not turn her head
to look at me through the window
just as I had done many years ago
and I could see her get a grip on herself and plan how to say it
just as I had done many years ago
and I knew
just as my Mother had known
and it was then I realized
…………………it’s all echoes
…………………we’re living amid echoes
…………………amid the reverberations of all the remembrances
…………………amid the traces and the vestiges
…………………amid the remnants of times past
…………………amid our own ghosts and shadows
she came in the house smiling
just as I had done many years ago
and I knew even more surely
just as my Mother had known even more surely
what she was going to say
and my heart sank, my life sank, all the shine in life sank
just as my Mother’s had
she tried to act as if nothing was wrong
just as I had done years and years ago
in the same room
in the same house
my Mother’s and my Father’s house
my house now that they are gone
but they are not gone
they live here in the echoes and the shadows
in the yesterdays that are the todays
but right now it was we who sat there facing each other
Mother and daughter
just as another Mother and daughter
had sat there
many years ago
and
now many years later
I knew what my Mother felt
so many years ago
it’s all echoes
raining down on us
you know this don’t you
…………………it’s all echoes
…………………we’re living amid echoes
…………………amid the auditory afterimages
…………………amid the reverberations of all the remembrances
…………………amid the traces and the vestiges,
…………………amid the remnants of times past
…………………amid our own ghosts and shadows
she opened her lips
and I watched the fearsome man in black cape and hood
enter the room silently
behind my daughter
and sit in the corner silently
holding his scythe across his black robes
and I wondered silently
if my Mother had seen
the same fearsome man in black cape and hood
enter the room silently
behind her daughter
and sit in the corner silently
holding his scythe across his black robes
because
it’s all echoes
raining down on all of us
you know this don’t you
…………………it’s all echoes
…………………we’re living amid echoes
…………………amid the auditory afterimages
…………………amid the sounding and the resounding
…………………amid the reverberations of all the remembrances
…………………amid the traces and the vestiges,
…………………amid the remnants of times past
…………………amid our own ghosts and shadows
waiting for the dread words to fall from her lips and break my heart
and behind her
I watched the glowing one
in white robes
enter the room silently
and sit beside her silently
hand on the hilt of his sword
ready to do battle
………………..echoes
……… ………..it’s all echoes
………………..in this house
………………..in this heart
………………..where there is no future yet
………………..and the present
………………..suspended over an abyss
………………..is swallowed up in echoes
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~©susan williams,2016
Echoes
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