Goodbye Is Never Easy

Such a simple word
To cause my heart such fear,
One I never like to say
And never like to hear.

Goodbye is never easy,
It's the closing of a door.
Like the end of a favorite story -
When sadly there's no more.

And we cling on to our memories,
But the mind's a fickle thing.
And it gets harder to hold onto them,
To recall the joys they bring.

As each today becomes a yesterday
Distance and years can't mend,
Time apart will consume the heart,
The relationship, the friend.

Not by choice or act of will -
We are standing in life's river,
And as the current rushes past us
That part is gone forever.

To walk forwards is a frightful thing
As the path is yet unknown,
But to stand still and not move at all
Is to spend your life alone.

So you see Goodbye is necessary
Though we may wish that it were not.
We can't be afraid of letting go
'Lest I be forgot'.

Fore the forest needs the fire-
To give the seed a chance to grow,
Like a phoenix from the ashes,
Or Spring-time after the snow.

It's the pattern in the tapestry
That is revealed as time goes on.
You will meet new people, see new places,
And do things you've never done.

So goodbye my friend you will be missed!
But if by chance it's not the end,
And fate should smile on us in another time and place
May our paths cross once again!

(By R. Cheong
5th October 2011)