Across The Flood Poem by jim hogg

There's shrapnel in old memories,
And wounding ways of little things
Are waiting for the killer song.
The one that sings of love gone wrong;
That's vague enough to languish in,
But sharp enough to break the skin
And skewer guilt and old regrets,
I thought that I could just forget.

I truly didn't have a clue.
But got to spend some time with you


I never really had a plan,
And now I don't know where I stand:
Alone, right here, or in between
The maze we are, or point we've been,
And every word however meant,
Of what was said and went unsaid
Has been eclipsed by useless fate.
At last, it really is too late.

The word is out and in my mind
A sunburned girl dressed all in white.


So many stars and untilled fields.
Yes, what a thing it is to dream,
Across a flood too wide to bridge
Of fixing things that can't be fixed,
Or never had the chance to break
Beyond the walls of my mistakes.
I've rocked my world to smithereens;
Now distance is a spinning wheel,

And all those dancing walls creep in.
Though none of this was in the script


In February long ago
The frost was hard and sheathed in snow;
The two of us alone that day,
And you were just a spark away,
And real enough to be a dream.
You bustled through while I feigned sleep
To stop the tongue that wouldn't keep,
The love I'd hoped you'd never see;

At least not then while you were his
Before your sudden arms and lips


It's winter and I didn't know;
The curtain's down; I missed the show.
I fell behind and now it seems
There's countless things I'll never see:
'The lights of Cincinnati' town,
Or catch your eye when you glance round
To catch me gazing one last time,
At all I loved but still declined.

I think I ran for running's sake,
When we had endless time to spare.


It's been a while since we were teens,
And day by day on distant screens,
Some cautious words were all we swapped,
When you were barely holding on.
The tongue and pen can conjure words
But never really capture love.
Who builds the maze that brought us this,
This passing raft of mysteries?

How differently it all turned out.
Beneath these stars, above the ground.


17 03 2023

For D. RIP.

(adapted from A Dream Reflects)