Sunday Poem

GHOSTS: A RUINED VILLANELLE 

As if I have to watch you
A thousand times a day
Moving away from me, moving away from me, moving away 

Construction workers in bright vests, grey
Boots, hard hats in orange, white, blue
And every one of them is who 

You were—a young man—new
Dreams in his speech, all his movements, play
Moving away from me, moving away from me, moving away 

Putting in the hard hours, taking home his small pay,
Slow to admit he's still uncertain what to do
And every one of them is who 

You felt and didn't feel yourself to be: crude,
Beautiful, beyond whatever they could say
Yes, every one (every last one) of them is you
Moving away from me, moving away from me, moving away

From Designated Mourner (ECW Press, 2014) by Catherine Owen

("X-Men at Union" by Stephen Andrews)