Ghosts Floating

/ rothpoetry

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Ghosts Floating   

Every now and then a ghost from the past

Floats through from the cobwebs of my mind

A friend I once knew breezes through

Clear reminders of events and actions

Some worth remembering and others well

Maybe not so good

Ghosts hidden for years suddenly appear

Carrying me like Scrooge through time and space

Reminding me of that first kiss

In the dark halls of the church

Feeling the mixed excitement coming of age

A broken heart from time to time

Ghosts of a friend who taught me more

Than I should have known at the time

Doing adolescent crazy things

That now can never be changed

Associating with a borderline petty thief

Bragging of his devious exploits and sexploits

Being older and more daring he plotted

Who knows how much was true at the time

Exaggerated imagination for a friends ears

Impressions that last a lifetime

Ghosts of accidents and death

Drowning in the river

A crushing cave in

Leaving deadly impressions on my young mind

Putting the fear of God in me

Reminded by parents of dangerous risks that

Should never be taken

Amazing how Ghosts can haunt us

Whether sixty or seventy they still come by

Visiting on occasion

Reminding me

Nothing is ever really forgotten

What we learn when young

Stays with us for ever

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

 

14 thoughts on “Ghosts Floating”

  3. Very often people I know or have known pass by in my mind, like a flash, not related to a specific thought, just scoot past – a face, a name, or sometimes I forgot the name and the face and it’s a contour, or maybe a smell, a voice, a hand caressing my cheek. Maybe it’s the mind keeping memories alive, like a constant recap of a life. I wonder how people suffering from dementia experience this. Do the ghost stay away, or, perhaps more frightful, do they gather in one large room, shouting and waving for attention and maybe one then desperately seeks to escape into oblivion.

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    • Interesting thoughts Peter. Perhaps it is someone up there trying to dust off the old files! I think everyone experiences this from time to time as things in life trigger them. When my father in law advanced in his Alzheimer’s, he would constantly refer to his childhood memories of his grandparents who could not remember, or were blind. He would repeat events over and over again as things in our conversation triggered them. Present ghosts stayed hidden and only the past showed up to visit. It would be awful to have a memory that was all jumbled up as you illustrated. That really would drive a person crazy!
      Thanks for you comment
      Dwight

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