The Night Memory by James Piatt

Every night her image arrived in the old 

man’s mind, like a rose wafting sweet 

perfumed memories into the air, the petal 

of each rose was unraveling as it drifted 

down the simpering corridors of time. 

Each thought was driven into the void 

with an eerie echo alongside the thorns 

that were piercing his heart. It was a

cruelty that his mind was filled with

 such sad memories. Memories that were 

roaring in his mind like a tsunami, and 

drowning out reality. But, he was in 

gratitude for any vision of her, even the 

one in an oblique silver frame upon 

a mantel. His memories, like a whale that 

dived into the ocean waves, sprayed 

shadows without sounds into the sky. He 

was like a poet with words melting into 

hours of sorrow inside spaces filled 

with remembrances of bitterness that had 

been confronted by an eternal absence. 

About the Poet:

James, a retired professor and octogenarian, lives in Santa Ynez, California, USA, with his wife Sandy, and a super-intelligent Aussie dog named Scout. He has had five collections of poetry published: The Silent Pond, Ancient Rhythms, LIGHT, Solace Between the Lines, and Serenity, and over 1800 individual poems, 40 short stories, and five novels in scores of national and international literary publications. He earned his doctorate from BYU and his BS and MA from California State Polytechnic University, SLO. He was nominated twice for the Best of The Net award and four times for the Pushcart award.