After the Memories Fade

A quiet echo through the rain-streaked pane, A sense of absence, a lingering pain. Yet somewhere deep, where shadows softly play, The fragments gather, come what may. Familiar faces shift and rise like mist, Their once sharp edges now a gentle tryst With fading light, a softened, hazy view, Their pictures blur behind my weary view. Time moves on, its steady, relentless flight, Softly stealing the vibrant hues of light From yesterday, erasing line by line, Leaving a sketch, a feeling undefined. Yet whispers linger, faint but fiercely true, Like melodies the heart remembers through The muffling years, etched in a silver hue, A constant hum, a love that sees me through. Laughter drifts upon the evening air, A fleeting trace of joy beyond compare, Once bright, once fair, a vibrant, ringing sound, Now a soft murmur on hallowed ground. Moments lost to sharp recall, it's true, Yet never gone, they seep and filter through, Like echoes sung in midnight's lonely dawn, A spectral chorus, beautifully withdrawn. Though years may blur what fragile eyes forget, The soul, a keeper, holds what time has set Within its chambers, safe from swift decay, The essence lingers, come what may. For love, a current strong and ever deep, For joy's bright spark that silent vigil keep, For sorrow's weight, a burden understood, Are carried on, beyond where sight is good, Beyond the gate of conscious thought and name, An undercurrent, an enduring flame. So let them fade, like watercolors bled, Yet not depart entirely, not truly dead. For memory lives, not in a perfect scene, But in the heart, where feelings intervene, A gentle ache, a fondness and a sigh, A testament to moments that drift by, Leaving their imprint, soft and ever near, A love that conquers even the passing years.