What Time Couldn’t Bury

The clock in the hall ticks away incessantly Each face in this place settles deep underneath me The years in my chest never rest through this century Each place keeps a tune that returns unexpectedly My father grew older, his heart surrendering My mother’s soft laughter ended after the wintering The friends at my table left spaces in history I stay while each day turns their absence to mystery Love remembers what time keeps discounting so easily The heart stores its part of them almost mechanically Years close the doors, but the walls keep their memory I try pretending that age is just scenery What time couldn’t bury keeps breathing inside of me Every farewell rings its bell through my memory Love bends the years till they curve back inside I grow older holding what time couldn’t bury (What time couldn’t bury) The woman I loved left her dreams in my keeping Her voice in each choice still returns when I’m weakening The men I called brothers grew fewer and farther Their voices made gloom in the hard times softer Some fell into silence, some slipped from the world Each loss at a cost rearranging what was left of me I’m now the historian nobody anointed Qualified mostly by being disappointed Time spends what love keeps defending instinctively The heart guards its part with unearned loyalty Every parting changes shape as it follows me Leaving me alive in the worst kind of property What time couldn’t bury keeps breathing inside of me Every farewell rings its bell through my memory Love bends the years till they curve back inside I grow older holding what time couldn’t bury Time is a landlord reclaiming the property Love is the squatter still living there silently I win every argument—no one is answering Age calls that wisdom; I call it surviving The years take attendance with daily regularity Love marks who's missing as a reminder inside of me Maybe survival is less of a victory More like a sentence with built from the memories What time couldn’t bury keeps echoing inside of me (Still inside of me) Every farewell reruns through my memory Love bends the years till they curve back inside me (They remain with me) Every lost hand still reaches out invisibly I grow older, less certain, more grateful and weary Still holding everything time couldn’t bury (Time couldn’t bury) The clock on the wall knows all I am carrying Love stays in ways every year keeps inheriting When my own hour arrives without ceremony I hope love has kept them a place there beside me