Times of the sign

08 Aug Times of the sign

Moments

Don´t seek an elaborate sign pointing here

Don´t even look for one that is bright

and clear with freshly laid colors, or one just plain

but prominently displayed:

                                       The Old Monastery Hostel

So many travelers have passed through this house

of one man´s labor and dreams. Strangers arrive

and leave as friends; lovers meet, encounters end,

vanishing into regular lives.Like a woman

walking away from the light, moments may pale

in the mind, disappearing into the night

but this place stays.

           Memories gather and dissipate,

           like shifting clouds, drifting far…

           on your heart they remain as lovely scars.

At the entrance to the driveway you may spy

the only understatement he planted for a sign;

a well worn board, painted white, sunk in the overgrowth

and draped by vines. As if carved deep in the wood,

the weathered black letters endure –

indelible in this space of time.

                                                     Virginia Barrett, 2005

The sign was down now for several years,

stored away,  faded and brocken,

but not forgotten.

Careful hands brought up the letters again,

adding an accent

not to change the bord´s worn nature,

but to let it endure for some more time…..