Already Leaving
By John Herlihy

I
He smiled,
But his heart was heavy.
The time had come, already too soon,
Leaving can be a great sorrow.
Already the sun is losing its force,
Any time now left is only on borrow.
Dusk is upon him with a touch of remorse;
He looked around and smiled, of course.

II
Already it was time to depart,
Such great happiness to leave behind,
Such great sorrow still on his mind.
Already such a long time has passed,
Who could think such time to be amassed,
To have it all slip through his fingers,
Like morning dew dropping through the grass.
Already, he was leaving behind all he held dear,
Such love, like flowers in their great awakening,
So many memories dissolving in their forsaking.
The music gone so soft it can hardly be heard,
Already the night wind whistles through the trees,
His breathing labored, as if fighting a swirl of leaves.
Nearby, the harmonica plays with ease its sacred hymn,
His heart close to bursting now nearly full to the brim.

III
Now he was leaving;
He knew it was time to go,
Leaving behind everything he had to show,
Leaving the great frontier he had passed through,
Leaving behind a life, his life, his one true coup.
The end of his days could be seen coming,
As if Mother Nature a summer storm were summoning.
The darkness of the night had not yet arrived,
To announce that he had yet another day survived.
The streets in the city gleamed in sparkling white light.
A soft rain had fallen earlier to wash away all blight.
Already beads on condensation were arising from the ground,
Plump pearls of rainwater rolled down shop windows all around.
Leaving would turn out to be everything he knew it to be,
Every time he saw something, it was the last time to see.