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If it is indeed so good then shouldn’t we be more inclined to it

Rather than sensing the certainty of internal doubt?

~

If it was so good then why hasn’t everyone subscribed to it

Why then are there people still hounded and unsure?

~

Those who have turned away without a shred of regret

Sure of themselves beyond the measure of the majority

~

Those who can stare tempting popularity in the face

And honestly say they’re not impressed

Inspired by Pep

~

A trigger takes me back

to a precious moment I’ve kept dear

The mere thought of which elicits a tearful sadness

alongside a warm sense of comfort and safety

~

Revisiting a golden time and place from long ago

with a fresh wonder and joy for a world so new

That innocence and purity of my exposure to life has since been lost and replaced

by knowledge and language too descriptive, and needlessly complicated

~

I feel the pangs of mourning for a homesickness of my youth

accepting that it is impossible to appreciate the richness of existence again through such a cherished, simple perspective

-

What is that very first moment when you know you’re alive?

Is it the vision of your mother, seen through your

fresh and never before used eyes?

Perhaps your existence begins when your mind comprehends the soothing sounds of kind voices heralding your arrival into the world?

What is your very first memory?

And how early into infancy can you travel when a single object or mood

triggers a special childhood sensation, locked away from long ago but still

influential and ever-present in your life – governing who you are to

this very day?

~

It hits me only now that this image I’ve had of my mother, all this time

Has long been affectionately biased by the rosy tint of these youthful eyes

~

I am now at an age, corresponding closely to that time when she had me

Faced with a similar prospect of our lives changing ever irreversibly

~

I’ve known her only as my mum, an enriching role model for an only son

It makes me wonder how she was as a young woman and how we would have gotten on

~

Adulthood is thrust upon us so soon, often catching us unawares:

Not fully ready to undergo that morph into a generation of greying hair

~

The funny thing is that it was me who made her “mother” – a role she grew into perfectly

Almost as if we’ve educated each other in this life cycle of humanity

~

And through her constant love with all her wisdom gained and shared up until here

This next stage of existence an awakened latency, and one I needn’t fear

~

It petrifies me to think that we’ll end up like that, someday

Where all the things that needed to be said, have all been said away

With only our presence together to confirm for us our youth

All withered away, a love too long now in the tooth

~

I’ve seen them many times, scattered around this world as witnessed through these eyes

Couples who have since merged their freedoms into the one single, common life

It’s often made me wonder whether this step is an inevitable conclusion

To the days of long ago of an inescapable flirtatious delusion

~

I know though through my entire essence that that is not how we will be

Nor will the laughter and joy we sound out turn into a silent meaninglessness easily

And so all those couples’ faces –  blank but with an alleged love for which I have disputed

Will remind me to announce loudly and constantly that “My love for you will never be muted”

~

~

Copyrighted Image, Pam O’Connell: The Silent Couple

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