The anniversary of a death

A poem from The Breathless Pause by Moyra Caldecott

The anniversary of a death

Trying to reconstruct a person
on the anniversary of his death
you must enter
the labyrinth of memory
with its twisting
and its turning,
its sudden shocks,
its false starts
and its blind alleys,
and its sudden revelations
of what you did not know you knew.

Someone emerges
from the shadows,
familiar,
yet unfamiliar…
substantial
yet unsubstantial.
Fading fast
leaving an ache behind…
and a question:
Did you ever really know him?

Moyra at St James Wine Vaults, Bath