“ Distant Faces ” – etched on my mind –

by Claude Théberge 1987
ceramic mural 12 ‘ x 9’ for Eastern Topographies,
Ossipee, New Hampshire, USA

Listen to audio

Distant Faces 

            – etched on my mind –

 There are traces
 From prior times, 
 Of distant faces
 Etched on my mind,
 That stay forever 
 Hence so adorn,
 A place of musing 
 Where past ground,
 Be worth pursuing
 Tho but a semblance,
 Might now be found…  

 As memories falter 
 Thus in mind’s eye,
 Imaginings alter
 And fall beyond,
 Familiar places 
 Of aging optimism, 
 In mature zeal 
 Be timeless isms,
 Scarcely notes real
 With fading traces,
 Of now distant faces… 

 Tho wishful thinking  
 Could yet show trace, 
 That offers an inkling 
 Alludes to per chance,
 A faint hint of passing
 Mightn’t ye remember,  
 Enough of such places
 May outlive December, 
 Has ye find the more, 
 Of now held distant faces!   

                 © Jean-Jacques Fournier 
  
                          Ode to Hilary, Natalie and Wayne, old friends! 
                                    
 Mural - by artist Claude Theberge ...
 Faces - Personal & private collection ...
 Music - Excerpt of,  Night Jazz, by Chet Baker ...   

“ A Distant Presence ” – stored in old memories –

                                                                 Listen to audio

“ A Distant Presence ”

            – stored in old memories –

 

I feel a presence

Ever distant,

Lurking

In my memory,

Probing

Unrelentingly,                                                                             

To surface

Above reticence,

Ne’er forgotten

Be one’s musings,

Despite a dying voice

Caught in the shadows,

Of a haunting choice

Stays a distant presence,

Stored in old memories…

 

I feel its existence

Lamenting regret,

Of relic adolescence

Did tend to forget,

One’s life so harried

Time be left scattered,

Yet held little matter

Amid memory’s embers,

Despite imploring pleas

Woefully entreating time,

On symbolic knees

Ought allow to remind,

Before the while be no more

Than a haunting memory…

 

Tho still I hear whispers

Of a lingering voice,

Must be the patient soul

In its life’s awoken choice,

Holds stored in old memories

That of a distant presence! 

           

                        © Jean-Jacques Fournier  

                                           July 12, 2020             

            Music, Chet Baker – Almost Blue –

“ An Instant ” ~ nudges held distant ~

 

There’s an instant

In man’s life clock,

Nudges held distant

Thus to take stock,

Of his ebbing time

The gods but mock,

His maturing soul

Would incite mind,

To divest his whole

Of accumulated finds,

While then given bold

Hence till fate decrees blind,

To adversely admit hedging old!

 

                                                 You’ve no need to wonder,

                                                                you just wait your turn…

“ Sister, Dear Sister ” ~ can you spare the time ~

Might you not find
To share a moment
While there is time,
A sharable instant
We could combine,
To empathy distant
And days that stood,
The ordeals of time
In a life judged good,
As we’d understood
In our young minds…

So sister, dear sister,
Can you not spare the time!

“ A Distant Voice ” ~ that beckons ~

I hear a cry

Tormented so,

Tears by the by

Do leave a wake

Of such dismay,

Mind has need

To find a way,

If but to still

A distant voice,

Whose forlorn cry

Allays not beckon,

Into the night

Its waning words

In dismal plight,

Wants restore whole

Thus begs relight,

Man’s dark lost soul!

“ The Days ” ~ that tell ~

 

What of the days

That tell

Of distant past,

At times so well

You almost feel

No time has passed,

As if a dream

Be made to last,

But at once there

You sadly find

Yourself aware,

You’d left a part

Of you behind,

Though long ago

A sepia’s memory

Will scarcely show,

That part of you

Did endure whole

In spite of time,

Hence of the days

That tell

Of distant past,

Lingers on your mind!