After

~ An imagined sad final farewell to my “peace and love” generation. ~


Original DDE™ surrealistic art entitled “So So Ago” by: rob kistner © 7/25/24

 
After the rattle of death
after leaving with no goodbye
after bittersweet emancipation faded away

after the hope just imploded
after the joy became a memory
after a new sadness collected day upon day

after the promises echoed empty
after the dreams grew distant
after our days of glory had become the past

after the taste of regret grew
after the loneliness mounted
after sands in the glass spilled away much too fast

what first was a rich blaze
burned through the fodder
sadly hereafter all that remains is ashes and char

the vision was most beautiful
the intention honest and real
its brightness so intense it burned out like a star

I did not know peace would seem so far
I did not know love could be so very quiet
I did not know how this silence would scar

*
rob kistner © 2024

Poetry at: WGO

 

10 thoughts on “After”

    1. Thank you Sumana. In this country, hell, in this world — peace and love seem gone forever. When my post WWII generation let it die, it has not, nor possibly ever will it return as a social movement. With a world wide web, communication is quick, global, and more trivial and meaningless than ever. We are a world hiding behind screens — more humanly isolated than ever. My “peace and love” are dead — RIP. Of course, I’m just a grumpy old man… 🙂

  1. The repetitions pierce the heart, Rob. That something is lost that time cannot regain is driven home with each “after” and then its rhetorical aftermath so to speak, “I never knew ….” Beautifully expressed. ??????????

    1. Thank you Dora. This is now a world of human physical isolation, and a world filled with war after war, being fought because people have forgotten how to, or simply do not understand, the art and necessity of peace. I am thankful my time left here is short. At least I will pass with a memory of a generation who tried to champion peace and love, even though we failed — it was at least in our lexicon. “Come on, people now, smile on each other, everybody get together and try to love one another right now.” In today’s “woke” world, sentiment like that is belittled and ridiculed. So damned sad, so sad. We boomers failed our mission. I apologize… 😐

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