Painting by Gebhard Fugel
All things end in sadness,
If only because all things must end,
All the summer-sweet memories,
Tinged with bitter brown,
Now that the page is turned,
The petals fallen.
What once was vivid, ice-bright,
To make the skin tingle with that almost touch,
Sifts now, sand-dry, through scrabbling fingers.
The past casts its dusty veil,
Tidies happiness away into a dingy box,
Where sunlight will never fall again,
And all the tears shed in joy,
A simple presage of last tears of sorrow.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
Reblogged this on georgeforfun.
Thanks for all the reblogs, George 🙂
You are most welcome, ❤ (๑̀ ͜ʖ๑́) ❤
Can we not keep the memories vividly alive instead. I think they may be better than some memories created more recently.
xxx Massive Hugs Jane xxx
I’m sure you’re right. It just seems to me that there is always sadness in a memory simply because it’s a moment that has passed and can never be recaptured.
Memories are part of ourselves,they may bring us sadness but we never realy lose them. The moments that passed built what we are today. we will always cary them in our souls.. realy beautiful poem.
Thank you 🙂 We are what we remember, I suppose, a cumulation of memories good and bad. The happiest will always be among the saddest simply because their time has gone.
I find it hard looking at old photographs for the same reason, they always make me feel sad, lovely poem 🙂
Me too. Even if there isn’t someone in the photo who’s now dead, it’s childhood, youth, or something else that has gone.
lines 8 & 9 struck me the hardest. All so visual and poignant.
It’s the way it feels sometimes. I know that memories, especially photographic memories are supposed to recapture a moment, but it’s more often the contrast between then and now that hits me in the gut.