Till Next Time
by Ted Kaiser
Say not to me, “goodbye”, rather say only “see you next time” For as God as my witness, there is no such thing as “departing“ For all there is, is “returning“. Surely you will see me again Though your eyes may not recognize me Your soul will know it And your nose will smell it As if I were a scent of twenty colors. Know my true likeness, surely you will again, my love Though your grace cannot touch my bottom Laugh will I, with you, and also with you, I will cry In all your patient errands, love you I do so sweetly As cold winds ever blow you by, your monument I testify. May you scatter my ashes to the sea And smile upon knowing that I am free Free from the white stars that long held me down Hung by the opioid dream of achieving them But now it is I who wears the crown. It was fate who wrote me as those bound to sleep In which no such dazzling manifesto can wake Me up, from mine slumber deep. So shall you find, every lighted star in the night sky Speaks to you all the wonder that I once said And every such singing breeze Does equivalent unto you as I once did. For as there is no such a real thing as being gone There is no such a real thing as being here, if you Loathe the place that lies beyond And detest the ground you walk on, For you must walk the rest of the road without me. We have indeed together journeyed many foothills But no longer do I possess the feet to move Nor the eyes to see the dawn erupt into steadfast momentum Nor the heart to cradle the moon back unto its cosmic hearth And now you have to pick up the slack of my lost momentum: not really lost at all! Though you cry tears wishing I was there by your side I have alas never spent a day in your pocket when you were holding me. Surely you will come running to me again On a sunny green pasture by a river, like when we first met The sky will be clear, and we will have all the time In the world to talk about the things we held dear. See that you do not need to see me For it to be like I am standing right there next to you Nor do you need to touch my face so gently As to turn me into your eyes Nor need you to hold me fast To grasp my likeness. Keep me as a secret in your heart when I go, and I will forever be a part of you Aye, for I shall be building ice-caverns in your backyard when it starts to snow And even if hail falls down from the sky, still will I not take refuge inside your abode May you have hot cocoa and marshmallows and a roaring fireplace I don't need those things anymore To be complete Upon the eternal air. I will hear you humming when the autumn wind blows Though I thought the storm would pass, now I walk the path alone And I don’t have anywhere else to go except the ground below Where I stammer about the rubble of my broken boat: I flew too close To the sun that paints my dreams with rose. So till the world parries your will with a grave you cannot explore Gaze in reflection of what nearly missed washing upon the shore.