The Dimming

 

The Dimming

•

here is the change

the forgetting

the slipping away
into the haze of memory

the frustration
of no longer being able
and still
the burning longing to…
remember

and you
dimming in this fog
midst the times we have cherished
the places we have loved
fading beyond reach

an ever-mounting loneliness
like so many vacant seats

empty

• • •

rob kistner © 2011

• linked at Magpie Tales

15 thoughts on “The Dimming”

  1. This speaks to me of what it must feel like to no longer be able to call up memory. I really like how you open this “Here is the change” and follow it immediately with “the forgetting”. There is, of course, more than one way to read this poem, and certainly one can read it as love lost, but for me, the sense of physically losing ability to remember seems the strongest thread of meaning.

  2. as that bitch Time has its
    way with us, as muscles become
    flaccid, and cortical erections
    become jello, I sit with a stick
    of ginseng in one hand, and my
    fingers stroking the internet with
    the other. Technology has given
    us the storehouse for instant
    recall, and I use it shamelessly.

  3. A dear friend is caring for her husband, slipping away with Alzheimer’s … as sad as your poem is … I know she will want to read it.

  4. emotive…the slipping away…my first thought with this pic was dementia which truly scares me…but beyond that the slipping away of most things often carries much pain…nice write man.

  5. I see the fading of love as sweethearts get distracted by life and drift apart into separate worlds of loneliness. At least you can still see her; there’s hope for pulling back into one another’s arms.

    Love the closing:

    “an ever-mounting loneliness
    like so many vacant seats

    empty”

  6. you captured the mood in this image so well rob…these lines stand out for me..
    the frustration
    of no longer being able
    and still
    the burning longing to…
    remember… says so much..

  7. Dear Rob: Never to let go of these cherished memories, and although the fog does create the illusion of forgetfulness, may the heart always remembered. I adore this poem! an ever-

    mounting lonelinessand you
    dimming in this fog

    midst the times we have cherished
    like so many vacant seats

    POWERFUL!

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