the loves we lose

When the voice is quieted
and the hands fall finally still
and the mouths whimper with regret
and the last sob shudders from quivering lips
all know it is too late for a last good-bye

so many steps left untraveled
so many joys left unsaid

we fall still in these moments,
wishing another story could have been told

what we would give for the sound
of
laughter,
of
glee,
of
blissful joy

what we would give for but a single
second
to
make amends
for those
of the long sleep

it doesn't take courage to keep moving forward-
to keep on living-
the only toll is another breath,
another beat of a saddened heart,
another blink of a watery eye

we take the sadness with us
like a medal on the chest of a soldier
who fell too soon

we keep untended wounds
and draw hope from an ascending sun

we gather among the ones we love
and speak of the lost
as if they were but a dream
conjured from a sleepless night

we try to keep tears from falling
from eyes that have seen too much
in the way of loss without redemption
and we only cry when no one else is looking
so as to make it seem as if we have the answer
to an unspoken question that has plagued us
for a lifetime upon all other lifetimes

and in this we bathe-
a lake of blue water to take
the black away,
to remove the heartache that threatens
our every move
and if there were any other way
to show the sadness we prove
it would be far too late
for the lives we're forced to lose