Good Byes (November 2013) by Josh W.

When the activity of the day finally stops,

I stand still in a clear, starry night looking up to the moon.

I remember that you can see it too. 

Maybe not at this same hour,          

Maybe you forget that it is even there.

When it is New it can easily be forgotten.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Perhaps only when it is Full do you remember.

Reflecting on the abundance of moonlight.

There are moments of Waxing. 

Times that you happen to look up and remember.

Mostly the memories are Waning,

With the passage of time.

So Good-bye.

I am merely becoming New.

When I return we will again be Full.

Good Byes (November 2013) by Renee

The love of my life still remembers, with pause, this childhood thought:

That all he lived and learned and loved were just the vivid dream

of a single palm tree – the sole occupant on a distant planet.

We all have this fear, don’t we? That in the involuntary flutter

of a waking eye the contents of a life can turn to crust

on sleepy lashes. Gone, to the fleeting memory of a finite slumber.

I can imagine the scene so clearly. My love returns to consciousness 
on that lonely planet, drifting in eternal space. Slowly, he returns 
to his bark skin, heavy and numb from sleep.

His coconut eyes fuzzy and unfocused, still trying to look

through some avatar’s strange squishy eyes. What is real?

He stretches his root toes and feels rock. He scans

the familiar landscape of his barren planet, and ruffles

his leaves, attune to that sound. And yet, there was that dream.

And this feeling. Can you miss what you never really had? Or,

can you mourn what you never really lost? Why, 
in the midst of everything warm and human, do we feel, 
in our pumping hearts and with real tears, 
the loneliness of an imaginary palm tree

in an unfathomable eternity?  

Good Byes (November 2013) by Renee

When I stop to think about good-byes, I think about the big ones. The sad ones. The ones that haven’t even happened yet. But our parting traditions are generally so habitualized we hardly think about the gestures, phrases, and rituals we practice daily.

Parting phrases, in particular, click off the tongue like a compulsion, or run together like a meaningless alphabet soup of acceptable phrases (Brian Regan’s “Take luck and care for it” comes to mind). We rely on tradition and habit to make such transitions with minimal effort. But we do still take some time to acknowledge those transitions.  

Even in such a mobile culture, where we consider ourselves independent if not disconnected, we acknowledge separation. We express it. We use the air in our lungs moving through us to say good bye.

We say it in just about any context, whether it’s a daily occurrence or an extended leave. Even when it’s final, and someone is dead and arguably unable to hear us, we still say goodbye. In formal situations and the most un-ceremonial encounters. With people we barely know, people we meet in passing, and those we  hold most dear.

God is in our good byes. A Dios. A Dieu. Even in English, from “God be with you” to Shakespeare’s “God b’wy”, to modern day good-bye. Good-byes are scary. Even the small ones seem to sum up this questionable existence we have on Earth. So naturally we call upon God.  

Even if we don’t mention a specific deity, a good bye is often prayerful.  An appeal. A blessing. A hope.

Fare well.

Have a good day.

Rest in peace.

We can’t give these things to people, but we offer it like a gift. We wish it for them.

Our good-byes are expectant.

Au Revior. Hast la vista. Auf Wiedersehen

See you later. Until I see you. Until later. Catch you later. Like it or not, I will see you and I will latch onto you. This-is-not-good-bye Good-bye.  

It can be full of the most Intense emotions, or said without any thought or feeling, but the parting wouldn’t seem right without some expression.

 So long.

 See you on the flip side.  

 Smell you later.

 Piso Mojado  

 Live long and prosper.

 May the force be with you.

 Take it easy.

God bless.

Toodles (from the French, à tout à l'heure).

Remember we are all aspects of one universal soul (Or, Namaste).

Keep it real.

Happy trails.

Piss off.

I miss you already.