Fading

Do you see this house?

It has stood here forever

On this old, old stone

Hung like an empty mask

Between the gray sky and the gray sea

A pale faded house on the bay

The dead man lived here once

Before he died.

He moved through these old halls

Like wind in the desert

Whispering grief to the floor.

I could not watch him do that.

The dead man was young once.

He found himself a wife

(For everyone needs one of those)

And bought her a house like a star

Above gray water.

She thought he saw her.

Did you see her fade? She did.

In this grand old empty house

Her grand young empty husband faded her

To the gray of the sea, to the gray of the sky

To the gray of the wayward dust

And then she was gone.

The dead woman was young once, too.

She was young and in love and alone

So she had herself a son

(For everyone needs one of those)

And gave him his father's name.

This one will love me, she said.

But the child's back was bent

By the weight of his father's name

And the light in his eyes would fade

As he watched his mother watch his father

Watch the sea.

He was what she wanted his father to be.

The dead man never saw her.

Till she died. Then there was no one

To watch him anymore.

So he walked by himself through the halls

Like a wind in the desert, like dust.

And his son could not watch him do that.

Have I given you my name?

It was not mine to give before.

It was my father's name, but he is now dust

On the floor of his faded house.

And now my name is mine.

I have come back for it.

I left it here with my father,

For I could not watch him fade

Too. I went without my name,

And missing it, was always looking back.

I could not yet return, nor stay away.

And without me he faded to gray.

Do you see this house?

It will stand here forever

Empty of all things save dust.

I will let this old, old stone

Remember for me. I will go.

The pale faded house, though, will stay.