Closure
I have my dead and I have let them go,
and was amazed to see them so contented,
so at home in being dead, so cheerful, so unlike their reputation.
Only you return; brush past me, loiter, try to knock
against something, so that the sound reveals your presence.
Oh don’t take from me what I am slowly learning.
I’m sure you have gone astray if you are moved to homesickness for anything in this dimension.
We transform these Things; they aren’t real, they are only the reflections upon the polished surface of our being.-from Requiem for a Friend by Rainer Maria Rilke
The poem talks about a literal, incorporeal ghost. I’m thinking about a metaphorical ghost – something the life of which have been long extinguished but is making its presence known, further proof that you can never get away from where you’ve been. As you go through life, you go through phases and chapters, some of which are more significant than others. The significant ones can either be good or bad. Whatever experiences that left marks, that affected how you view the world or how you deal with yourself and others, those are the memories that will forever haunt you (if it’s bad; if it’s good you’ll probably never want to let them go). Until you get your closure. Then they will just be memories; ink on pages you’ll return to at will.
I wonder how many people never get closure. With every beating heart in the world, I am tempted to suppose that more than half of them are broken at any given time. Not romantically broken. Well, I mean not only. Just think about how many sad songs have been written. Or why people love soap opera. Moving on is one thing. But closure is something you can never find on sale. It will come on its own, in its time. I was recently given this gift. I realized that there are some things in this world that you cannot explain. That there are some things that are meant to pan out exactly the way they did. If I’m wrong, then I’ll consider myself lucky. If I’ll tell you this story, none of you will agree with me. That’s why I’m not going to. Besides, I’ve made my peace. That’s all that matters.