Looking Back and Let Go

By Chris Toto Zaremba

Looking Back

I might look back too much.
It's a safe place.
I know what happened.
I know the music.
All my experiences, knowledge, memories and pictures are from back there.
I can filter on the good times.
I can see those who are no longer here.
I see them at their best.

Looking forward is unknown, scary.
Forward is finite.
You might get tomorrow.
The next days are not guaranteed.

I came from the past, visit today and look forward to tomorrow.
But I have to admit, I do look back alot.
Over my shoulder, in a rear view mirror
and in my dreams.

Let Go

He set the pace.
She walked the path beside him.
It was grass covered,
sometimes rocky.
In order to get by the obstacles
they held hands.
Those hands held their world.

She set the boundaries.
He pushed the limits.
It was the push and pull of a marriage.
The highs and lows, and highs again.
In order to get by the obstacles
they held eachother.
Sometimes they held on to hope,
sometimes for dear life.

He went ahead.
She fell behind.
It was an unexpected
part of their journey.
It was a hard lesson to learn.
In order to get by
sometimes you have to,
      let go....

Chris Toto Zaremba is the author of Angel of the Harbor and host of the Scituate Poetry Circle. She’s been writing poetry and short stories since she was a teenager, many years ago. She performs the Art of Spoken Word south of Boston at coffee houses, open mics and special events.