The Ghosted Name
A Villanelle of Lingering Longing
Where shadows bloom by thoughts that won’t let go,
I chase the traces of a ghosted name,
A haunting ache that time cannot outgrow.
*
Each memory, a wave in ebb and flow,
Drawn back to shores where once there burned the flame,
Where shadows bloom by thoughts that won’t let go.
*
The heart, a tethered kite caught in the throe,
Of dreams that flicker, frail as breath, yet claim
A haunting ache that time cannot outgrow.
*
In twilight’s hush, the past begins to show,
An endless loop, each pulse of love a game,
Where shadows bloom by thoughts that won’t let go.
*
I grasp at moments, like the falling snow,
But every flake returns to chill the same,
A haunting ache that time cannot outgrow.
*
So I remain, in sorrow’s steady flow,
Forever marked by longing, etched in name,
Where shadows bloom by thoughts that won’t let go,
A haunting ache that time cannot outgrow.
About the Creator
Tim Carmichael
Tim is an Appalachian poet and cookbook author. He writes about rural life, family, and the places he grew up around. His poetry and essays have appeared in Bloodroot and Coal Dust, his latest book.
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Standing While Falling
Quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche "He who wrestles long with monsters should beware lest he himself become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Man is not destroyed by suffering, but by the meaning he makes of it."
By LUCCIAN LAYTH7 days ago in Critique
Comments (3)
You captured that ache of memory so precisely, how it fades, returns and refuses to let us go. Stunning work.
The somber elegance of your words flows like a stream in the blue hour after sunset. Melancholy and beautiful. I loved this, Tim.
This is exceptional Tim. I felt that inescapable feeling of regret and longing that we have to live with sometimes. It felt like with each stanza and repetition the pressure of that longing and its hold gripped tighter and tighter until the end. Felt timeless and classic.