LOVE NEVER DIES by Michael Lally

LOVE NEVER DIES

Lots of shit dies
Love doesn’t

Parts of me are
Already dead

But love isn’t...
My appendix

Dead and buried
My prostate and

A disc from my back
Dead and gone too

And parts of my brain
Cut out with the

Dime size foreign body
That got in there somehow

To cause so much trouble…
The twin towers died

And all those lost with them
Like a woman who was

Kind to me when
She didn’t have to be

Gone on one of those
Two planes, but

My love for her isn’t…
Five of my siblings and

Our old man and ma
Passed on now for awhile

But not the love we shared
When we were honest…

The mother
Of my oldest kids, my

First wife, gone, but the love
She and I shared never

Died, though maybe the
Like did…my first true

Love, too, the love of my
Life, gone now for almost

A decade, but my love for
Her, and hers for me,

Never died even thru
All of our husbands and

Wives and lovers over
The years when we

Were out of touch with
Each other, none

Of that stopped the
Love we both felt

And affirmed whenever
We spoke again like

The week before she
Passed still working

To help troubled kids
Find families, those

Kids still grateful for
The love she showed them

That’s still alive even if
She’s with the ancestors now…

Or other women I’ve lived
With who have passed on

Or lovers long gone
Like Joan B or Joe B

Her face so sweet and tough
Voice still admonishing me to

Just be myself and not
Worry what others think

His voice so quiet and
Stuttering in my ear as I

Write this, his image on
My bookshelves with his books

His art on my walls, I only wish
He’d lived long enough

To see it didn’t matter
How famous he did or

Didn’t become, his work
Living on among us

Who love it, exhibited
Often since he passed

Or Tony gone so recently
A young man who went from

Ripping doors off their
Hinges when he was

Upset with his wife and
Kids to the gentlest giant

Of many I’ve known
His ex-skinhead rages

Transformed as he turned
The pages of his life from

Anger to compassion
His punk Buddhist

Practice enabling him
To live with the rare

Brain disease that
Took his physical

Presence from us
But not the love we

Who knew him shared…
I think of him every day

As I do a lot who live
Now only in our hearts

…oh
Lots of shit dies, like

Almost everything that was
New when I was a boy

Including the people…
If you live long enough

So much passes it feels
Like another world…

But it’s the same one
Where love never dies…

—© 2013 Michael Lally

Comments

[Terence Winch]

Beautiful. A classic Lally poem. Some love dies, I think, but poems live on forever.

[Richard Eskow]

Yes. Beautiful ...

[Lisa Duggan]

You penetrate right to the heart of it, always, whatever the It is and for me, it's always love and loss. More from Mr. Lally, please.

[Kim Roberts]

"So much passes it feels/Like another world..." Love this poem!

[Bill Lannigan]

Strong and touching. Love has triumphed over loss in Lally's psyche and his revelation of the triumph gives us hope of a similar victory. This is more than a uniquely and artfully crafted poem. It is an invitation to a special grace.

[Jim Coleman]

Really nice. All this physical shit that we try so hard to hang on to, even when we know it's slipping away. And yet the intangible love that ties us all together is what endures. I think hate can have a pretty damn long half life, but it seems transient too, like time will break it down. I think I read that even the Hatfields and the McCoys were brokering a truce a few years ago. And if we can dare to jump off that cliff and embrace that love, the hate and the fear can dissipate.

[Theresa Burns]

Lally's quirky, unsentimental brand of compassion trickles down the neck of this beautiful poem.

[Bob Hershon]

The prostate and the appendix may have taken a hike, but the Lally voice is as lively and singular as ever.

[Eve B.]

The poem and the poet are eternal!

[delaune]

But not the love we shared
When we were honest…

I can't think of a more honest poem, and if that isn't love, I don't know what is. Lally is a master.

[Carol Helmar]

Michael you know how to feel with words. It's all part of growing oder and reflecting. When we were young we never appreciated many of the people in our lives. It's just now, we realize that life is about the people, not the material things, but the people we have shared our lives with and the love, unconditionally given. Carol

[richard andersen]

This is the kind of poem Michael Lally used to write when I first fell in love with his work in 1979. He's done it since but not as often. It's amazing how much time has gone by and he's still ahead of so many in structure, voice, and vision. Kudos to the people who put together this anthology. It's good to see the establishment finally begin to catch up. It's got a long way to go.

[jane Delynn]

Beautiful. And true. Even if you no longer like them you can put your mind to when you did and the feeling floods back. Which is confusing. It's easier if they're dead, but still. Been trying to trace someone I last saw almost 30 years ago

[Annabel Lee]

This poem a sharp blade of truth, for Michael, for me too, maybe not for everyone, I've witnessed love dying and staying dead, yet for some of us maybe the "like" is gone, still the love is enduring, unconditional. An important poem from an important poet. And a way of being in the world that works for me. A reminder of how much we miss Joe B and so many who are not physically present.

[Suzanne Burgess Greco]

I like what Jane Delynn wrote: "An important poem from an important poet."

[Douglas Crase]

Michael Lally is the ideal voice from a brave cohort. Whenever he returns, and he always will, he is forever young.

[Jamie Rose]

This is gorgeous. And true. And made me weep.

[lally]

humbled and overwhelmed by the comments, and grateful...

[Dave Margoshes]

Tres cool, Lals. And you know what else doesn't seem to die? Your vision and command of the poetic language - as fresh now as 40 years ago and longer. - Dave

[lally]

Thanks Dave, coming from you, as with the other commenters above, I feel fortunate indeed...

[Connie Nicholson]

Keep hold of what we have gained from our loved ones rather than what we have lost of them. That's a sentiment to remember, Thanks, Michael.

[Ate de Jong / Amsterdam / The Netherlands]

Thanks Michael for reminding me --and many others hopefully-- about the eternity of the past and the shortness of the future. Love always - Ate

[Rain Worthington]

Beautiful wisdom in cycles of remembrance and grace. Thanks, Michael. I love your work.

[Charles Fanning]

What a beauty, Michael. Straight to the heart. Reminds me of late WCW, your fellow New Jerseyite, especially poems in "Journey to Love" -- in the sureness of movement as much as the theme.
Charlie Fanning

[ERic Holzman]

Beautiful. Specially loved and hit by the first two lines.