Sam's Lament
Goodbye is like a knife
Severing hearts
It never heals.
I cannot say goodbye, dear Master!
The rooms before me, full of lively stories once, now hollow with emptiness
Like a toothless mouth.
Curtain-less windows stare unblinking into the roses,
our roses
Whose scent will never gladden your heart again
And only serve as reminders to me of farewell.
Who will stand by you when the cold shadows
Creep from the lonely paths of memory?
Ah, my Master,
The long, long tale we have sung
Together!
Sometimes strong as trumpets from tower tops
Sometimes a timid whisper in a howling wind
But ever, ever in harmony
Not lost, not injured
Not wrapped in amazement....
Not the very mouth of Doom
Did untwine us.
But the sea?
It's thin water washing everything away?
Like sand castles on the tide line?
There is a burning, a dazzlement in my eyes.
Tears splinter my memories
As I watch the falling light of the West.
You are leaving me, sailing.
Our songs, our tales
Our very heartstrings
Will pull and tug
Perhaps to unfurl bravely like banners
'cross the unknown fathoms between us
But never, ever to unravel.
And though time and distance may wipe your footsteps
slowly from the roads well traveled
and new paths are laid over them by unknown and indifferent steps,
while towns grow and trees die, the gardens wither
or get plowed under.
Yet locked in the strongbox of my heart
will always be that unfettered unchanged smile and laugh
and your joy of adventure
which set all before us atremble
in ever widening circles
as we stepped out
to heal the future all unknowing.
Goodbye is like a knife
Severing hearts
It never heals.
I cannot say goodbye, dear Master!
The rooms before me, full of lively stories once, now hollow with emptiness
Like a toothless mouth.
Curtain-less windows stare unblinking into the roses,
our roses
Whose scent will never gladden your heart again
And only serve as reminders to me of farewell.
Who will stand by you when the cold shadows
Creep from the lonely paths of memory?
Ah, my Master,
The long, long tale we have sung
Together!
Sometimes strong as trumpets from tower tops
Sometimes a timid whisper in a howling wind
But ever, ever in harmony
Not lost, not injured
Not wrapped in amazement....
Not the very mouth of Doom
Did untwine us.
But the sea?
It's thin water washing everything away?
Like sand castles on the tide line?
There is a burning, a dazzlement in my eyes.
Tears splinter my memories
As I watch the falling light of the West.
You are leaving me, sailing.
Our songs, our tales
Our very heartstrings
Will pull and tug
Perhaps to unfurl bravely like banners
'cross the unknown fathoms between us
But never, ever to unravel.
And though time and distance may wipe your footsteps
slowly from the roads well traveled
and new paths are laid over them by unknown and indifferent steps,
while towns grow and trees die, the gardens wither
or get plowed under.
Yet locked in the strongbox of my heart
will always be that unfettered unchanged smile and laugh
and your joy of adventure
which set all before us atremble
in ever widening circles
as we stepped out
to heal the future all unknowing.