Nostalgia

Nostalgia sits opposite me

Only fragments of lingering conversation away

She feeds me broken bits of memories

And loosely knitted, unfolding pictures

Of people and places and things I once loved

Spooning them into my mouth like freshly ground spices

Waiting to see how I react to the burn

Nostalgia promises to stay forever

But I don’t want to spend my life chasing ghosts

Somehow, they’re all that I see

Wherever I look

Distorted flashes of the once-vivid past

I wonder if I can color them in

Feed them with life

Like she feeds me with pain 

Nostalgia tells me to breathe it all in

Because they’ll all be gone before I know it

I want to tell her that they never go away

I want to tell her I want them to so desperately

I’m homesick! can’t she see?

But her cold hands press down on my chest

And I think I forget to breathe