How To Say Goodbye – Part 2

 

In the poems below, Cindy says goodbye to a marriage of 16 years, to a co-worker, and to her youth.


UNTIL I’M HOME

by Cindy Pinkston            

I got up with the sun this morning

Turned in my key and packed my bags.

My clothes are tear stained,

And the heels of my shoes are worn down.

My book of wisdom is dog eared

And the pages of my journal cry out

From the weight of black and white silence.

I plan to travel light, to bring only

The things my soul requires:

The currency of hard-earned self-respect,

Sturdy garments spun of sacrifice,

Oils fragrant with the balm of forgiveness.

I will follow my heart’s inclination

It whispers to me now, calling me

I will journey on from here, taking

Note of each bend in the road

Until I know I am home.

JULIENNE

by Cindy Pinkston

I coveted your poise

The graceful way you walked.

I dressed well, but you dressed better.

In cream colored suits with silk scarves.

I bubbled over

With too many words,

You measured yours flawlessly.

Once we passed in the hall alone

And your smile was unguarded.

I heard that you had cancer,

That you were staying with your mother.

You were young and pretty,

And you curled your deep brown hair every morning

I could tell by the split ends.

You weren’t my supervisor,

Or my friend, or even someone I knew.

Still I felt such an emptiness

When I heard you were gone.

SUMMERTIME: WAITING IN LINE FOR THE ROLLER COASTER
For Bryan

by Cindy Pinkston

We are the loudest in line,

Extinguishing conversations with less fire,

Stand-up vs. Stand-up

And you are funnier,

Daring me to tell forgotten stories

While I search my pockets

For the girl I can’t find.

Laughter is the sweetest pretender,

Calling me to forget that middle age

Is my certain destination.

With sleight of hand,

I will leave his place seventeen again.

P.S. Thanks Cindy, for sharing these very personal goodbyes. Friendship is all about sharing what's in your heart and you have never been afraid to do that.

P.S. 2: Readers, if you missed How to Say Goodbye Part 1, you can link to it here. It contains poems by Tanita and links to tributes to Steve Jobs.

P.S. 3:  If you like to laugh, I promise you won’t want to miss How To Say Goodbye – Part 3 – which is about funny goodbyes and contains one really funny, laugh-out-loud goodbye. I promise you! Coming this Saturday!

P.S. 4:  Cindy has been a previous guest poster to my blog with Cindy’s Corner, Letters to Lucas and Medley.

How To Say Goodbye

Everyone has their own way. It’s part of our uniqueness.

Say It With Flowers, a Tribute In Writing, or a Speech

When Steve Jobs died, my friend Lakshmi drove to his Palo Alto residence and laid flowers in front of it.

Taken with an iphone by Lakshmi outside Steve's residence

My way of saying goodbye was my post Steve Jobs: A Personal Tribute. 

For Mona Simpson, Steve's biological sister, it was with the memorial speech she delivered at Stanford, which contained these moving lines.....”Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother.

The Goodbyes of a Child

The uniqueness with which we say goodbye, starts when we are young.

Here is how a 12 year old Tanita expressed her feelings when her friends Kayla and Missy moved out of our apartment complex...

Goodbye

By Tanita Jha          

Stupid fights

crazy nights

now it’s all gone.

Prankcalling

Eavesdropping

All night long.

Being ourselves

nobody could tell

but we knew it all along.

Then the day came.

The moving truck pulled up

and we said our goodbyes.

A tear streamed down my face

remembering

all the good times.

Now it’s all a memory

but it will always be a

part of me.

There is still one thing to say

Goodbye,

I will think about you every day.

And this is what Tanita wrote when her grandma passed away in 2005. She was 10 at the time...

Grandma

By Tanita Jha

Mom was not there to pick me up

After Girl Scout camp

I was wondering where she was

So I decided to take a chance

When she came to pick me up

My uncle was there.

I jumped into the car,

and asked him  why he was here

He said my grandma was in heaven,

she died three hours ago

I cried and cried and thought,

What a wonderful person she was

One thing’s true…

I will always love her.

How Do You Say Goodbye?

Curious to find out how others said goodbye, I asked my ever eloquent, ever articulate neighbor, Cindy. 

She reached into her grab-bag of poems and came up with 3 answers (Poetry, it appears, is specially suited to goodbyes!)

Since all 3 poems were fabulous and worth sharing, I said,"hmm,why not consider another post on goodbyes"

So folks, that's the plan.

On Wednesday, How To Say Goodbye – Part 2 will feature Cindy's 3 poems where you will learn more ways to say goodbye. Until then...

P.S.  Cindy previously contributed Cindy’s Corner, Letters to Lucas and Medley to my blog (Medley, I'm told, should have been Melody, but I took the title over the phone and messed up - sorry about that,Cindy!).