So its goodbye, Helen … your requiem I write here.— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
that you were the brightest…
that you dazzled me more than anyone I’ve known…
these things I give you.
That you’ve pushed my borders out past
what I can expect to see again
ruined my expectations of future surprise.
Why you couldn’t support what you offered me, I’ve wondered.
is it too tenuous there…out near the edge of what we can be?
And am I so close to this edge of myself then;
I never saw anyone farther out than I, before I met you,
…and you fell
We’ve so few years to see so few people
and you took so many subtle hopes with you.
So, its goodbye then…I waited…I wrote,
I talked to your husband, my friends, our friends,
I talked to you.
But the months are hard on new love
and love separated lives on mostly on hope
and I’ve lost track of what it was I can hope from you.
You come and go, change, and are gone too much
the string’s gone too thin…
these things I give to you…
That I’m not happy we came here
to where the ascending star of future’s promise
has past to the smoldering memories of hopes dashed.
gallagher
5 dec 78
Archive for December, 1978
1978-12-05
Tuesday, December 5th, 19781978-12-05 For Kathi K
Tuesday, December 5th, 1978For Kathi K— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
And what of you, Kathi … that the season buries you
beneath our mismatched fears … understanding turned to scorn
I can’t blame you, no, I can’t …
Winter whispers around my door … ‘truth wasn’t enough’.
but then mine wasn’t love … at least, not like yours …
you were right about so many things
I still can’t find out why it didn’t rhyme
You had everything I could’ve wanted
I keep remembering you said it … and you are fine
I can remember talking to you … you could make me high.
Your passion was the best of everyone I’ve known
with your flame we both could fly …
we laughed … the waitress thought us newlyweds
My friend, I love you as my friend, my lover
but I can see as clearly as the next
this time you’ve made up your mind
and my world will be much the emptier
and its such small consolation … that I never lied.
gallagher
Long Beach
12-05-78
1978-12-05
Tuesday, December 5th, 1978Got thoughts of her running thru my head— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
I remember when … I remember what we said
I remember, all my feeling’s not dead
Even in the mountains lost in another’s love
I could remember places we shared, the years that we lived
it seems these days I’m thinking more of her
and how we used to share our lives.
I think of my son growing strong
and I wonder how long he’ll be good when I’m gone
Maybe my memory plays, leading me back again
I don’t know … maybe the winter’s just too cold
In a secret place, it never fails me
I feel a trace of all our love could know
and how little any of these others have come to show.
gallagher
5 dec 78