A Goodbye To Forget

1.Part one - His tear-stained denial

His foot was on the doorstep,

His nostrils were filled with the scent of freedom,

He was ready to find his place in the world.

But then, a voice boomed,

“So, what will you miss

When you step out of this mist

And leave, not to come back again,

My free-spirited friend?”

He hesitated, took a step back,

“Miss? I’ll miss nothing.

I have never loved

The place inside this mist.”

“Is it so?” the voice boomed again,

“Will you not miss the work

And the stress and the worry?”

“No!”

“Will you not miss the shouting

And the insufferable loathing?”

“Never.”

“Will you not miss the cacophony

Of the forty-five different voices?”

“I…no.”

“Will you not miss all the fun and the games

And all the laughs that you shared?”

His voice trembled, but he steadied it and shouted,

“No, I’ll miss none of those.”

As he turned his back one last time

And stepped out of the gloom,

His breath short and his eyes damp

He knew he’d miss it all.

2.Part two - My grief-filled farewell

My foot was on the doorstep,

All ready to step out,

And my nostrils were filled

With the scent of freedom.

But a voice boomed,

“So, what will you miss

When you step out of this mist

And leave, not to come back again,

My free-spirited friend?”

I hesitated, and took a small step back,

Annoyed at having been called back

From the edge.

And so perhaps, my tone was a bit rough

As I retorted,

“Miss? I’ll miss nothing.

I have never loved

Anything inside this mist.”

And as the booming voice questioned my denial,

A smaller, but more powerful voice inside me

Asked the same thing,

“Is it so?”

I was prepared to defend my stance,

But I knew I would be lying.

For then, just momentarily,

Your face had flashed before my eyes.

While the outer voice continued to boom,

I chose instead to answer the voice within,

“No!”

“Will you forget those eyes

And the way you gazed longingly

Into their warm brown depths?”

“Never.”

“And will you forget

All those looks you tried to hide,

The fights and the jokes,

The tears and the giggles,

And those heart-wrenching memories

That you know you enjoy?”

I was lost for words

At the truth that I had suppressed.

Yet, I managed to say,

“I…no.”

“Then why do you say

That you have not loved,

Even as you have

Willingly given your heart.”

The outer voice was booming still,

And I, extremely irritated

And emotionally overwhelmed,

Told the booming voice, sharply,

“No, I’ll miss none of those.”

Then, turning my back one final time,

I stepped out of that gloom,

At last becoming the Traveler of my dreams.

And in reply to the voice within,

Despite my short breath and damp eyes,

I said, “I know I’d miss it all.”

This is an experimental piece. I tried to write a poem in two parts, expressing two different perspectives, trying to bring out the irrelevance of any "truth". I hope I haven't created too mant redundancies in my attempt to bring out contrasts.