The Past In The Present

Like the game he played,

today is likely to be

a funny old day.

Meeting a man

I know I don’t know,

though he knows me

even less than I do,

as I am not so documented.

Alone together,

for about the first time ever,

we will have no others

to hide behind.

I don’t mind.

It’s about time

we talked.

What will we say to each other?

There’s no common ground,

apart from my mother,

who isn’t around.

I don’t know.

Perhaps it’s the further

he travelled on leaving

that made the returning

feel more like a beating.

I don’t know.

Perhaps it’s the big words

that we’ve never spoken,

the why, and the love,

that stopped us from talking.

I don’t know.

I’m done with the one word

but the other abides.

It’s taken my whole life

to get even this wise.

I know this for certain, though:

there are some things

I no longer need

or wish to know.

So if we just sit,

in silence or blather,

that will be fine.

I don’t mind.

I just need

this time

together.