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Some feelings I couldn’t keep

so I reached for the guitar

hoping it could help me weep

But nothing came

no pain 

no remorse

just monotonous chords

making the silence worse

My fingers froze

I looked outside the window

a red rose 

in full bloom

and something struck me again

the way grief does

without warning

My fingers hovered

like someone waiting

on a memory lane

for a person who no longer comes

Then briefly

she appeared

smiled and said she had found her match

only her fading face

was mine to catch

And then the fingers moved

It wasn’t the guitar that couldn’t hold

it was my hands

just sweat

no harmony

only tuneless music

like this life

I once knew how to live

Someone next door

was singing

high and bright with joy

Maybe they were right

maybe I was wrong

But between the frets

between the chords

between the tuning

and the off-tuning

there is something

I haven’t reached yet

I couldn’t play now

I couldn’t before

Not with feeling

not with anything

that is truly mine

The guitar rests

so do I

But the heart

still holds

what I couldn’t pour