Arturo Fernandez Ferre

Those Distant Days

Those distant days,

In the cities of light

Where we were born,

When things were clear,

Where things were as they should be.

 

What a maze,

Back from here to there,

Of endless turns

With no idea

Which one is right.

 

We exiles in the wilderness

Give each other comfort

Shuffling tangos in the moonlight

On the crunching forest floor.

We create a moment\'s tenderness

To the steady beat

Of one, two three four...

 

Then climbing up the hillside

Through the jutting pines,

The trees welcome us,

As long as we climb

And don\'t complain

About the sting of winter

Or the thin and meagre air.

They\'re immune to such things

Being no strangers to the sadness

Of the seasons.

They know we don\'t belong there.

 

And from the hilltop

A view of hazy mountains

Dancing into vanishing.

 

That lost time and place

Is hidden

By things desired

And forgotten,

Bonds broken

As the world turns

And the sun sets every day

On us all.

 

But those distant days are there still.

Waiting for me, I know,

And for anyone who can

Defeat the years,

the fears,

the doubt

The past

The future

The now,

With a  refusal to die

Far from where we belong,

Exiled and alone.