What the Gods Remember
By Monica Sharp
Even the gods know their sorrows -
The child lost, a spouse unfaithful.
They too live with a past they cannot forget,
Dreams that assault and remind
What was before, and is not now.
Even the gods toss and turn at night,
Heavy in their beds, the slumber too light
The early hours trudging by. The doubt
That eats and eats,
A table never replenished.
The gods greet each day.
They ask themselves,
Will it be different this time?
Will I be different?
Or the same as before?
And what of my sole wish to return
As confused recollections crowd?
The gods remember
Other places.
The gods dream
Of going back.
*
Monica writes in Florence, Italy. Her international spirit travels with an American passport. She moonlights as a legal researcher when not parenting, project managing, or reading. Her poetry has been published in the Bosphorus Review of Books, Fevers of the Mind, Synapse, and Adamah. Learn more at sharpmonica.com.
Author website: sharpmonica.com
Instagram: occhiatafiorentina
Twitter: @finnch
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msharp73
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharpmonica/
*