to hear the echoes, and remember

death is like a break

I broke my upper arm

which has healed well,

nevertheless, my muscles still remember

and I cannot yet get back

to the full range of motion I had before,

a death is like that,

I can get back into the normal,
and seem just fine on the surface,

but the muscles of my psyche remember,

there’s a stiffness inside,

and pain bounces around within me: 

phantoms who remind me to hear the echoes

and still remember the breaking loss.

by Henry H. Walker

June 30, ’14