You Are Flying Backwards

A poem for John Baldock

 

You are flying backwards

I am standing still,

Waiting for your call to come

So you can let me in,

I am flying forwards

In a world that does not care,

I am at your fingertips

I touch but you’re not there.

 

You are flying backwards

I am flying on,

The gulf between us widens

Since the day that you were gone,

That final hour together

In a world that we both know

Now I see the distance

Between us grow and grow,

I don’t know where you’ve gone to

I don’t know where you are,

I find it hard to search for you

Among the evening star;

I want to call you back to me

To hold your hand again,

I want your voice to sooth

My inward pain.

 

But you are flying backwards

I am flying on,

The gulf between us widens

Like the moon is from the sun,

Your journey is a mystery

Mine is much the same,

My purpose carries me along.

In love I hold your name,

I pray to understand your death

I pray you will return

But all the signs are negative

I fear you will not turn.

 

So treasure every passing day

Each moment fill with light.

And smile when sadness comes your way

Before you’re flying backwards

Backwards out of sight.

You are flying backwards

Backwards far away

The world we were together in

Is part of yesterday.

 

Caroline Baldock©2021