Forever Gone

I've often found that my style of writing changes depending on the type of things I am reading at the time. Recently I have been reading a lot of poetry, as you may have noticed whilst reading 'In the Lap of the Mountain'. I love the works or Byron, Whitman and Wilde. I always love the songs/poems of lament and loss and that's why I enjoy all the old traditional folk songs like 'Danny Boy' and 'The Water is Wide'. When writing this piece I wrote it as a poem instead of a song. It speaks about being apart from your love but leaving them instructions to ways in which they can feel close to you. It also says how the narrator would rather suffer the pain which they are feeling now than never knowing what it would be like to be with their loved one.

Though your hands shall never/ touch my tender face,

No finger can discover /what they cannot replace.

The arms I taught to hold me/ throughout the coolest nights

Shall no more console me/and shall be out of sight

Oh darling don’t forget me/ you said upon a time,

No one could ever replace me/ I was the first of my kind.

My arm shall be the duvet/ the pillow be my chest,

So linger on a lifetime/ and lay ye down to rest.

Yes lay down all your burdens/ and hang up all your hopes

Lift them to the sun light/ and send them up to float,

And even in the dark say or/ breath my name in sigh

For I do feel the same way/ and do the same do I.

I whisper your name softly/ it’s all I've learnt to speak,

And when the light does hold me/ it hits the tear on my cheek,

And like a crown of diamonds/ my face shall forever shine,

And all this I endure for/ I knew once you were mine

It makes it all worthwhile/ and allows me to sustain

In each and every mile/it’s how I bare the rain

So assemble all the loneliness/ and drink it down in wine

And make believe this moment/ that once again you’re mine.

Karl Smitherman © 2012