The Big White Elephant

Unfinished business that you cannot attend.

They did not leave a date
nor a time.
They just left-
mid conversation.

No matter where you move
or mountains you climb
or showers you take
or kisses you share
or beers you drink
or hearts you break
it is still there.
And you're not on the schedule.

Some call it baggage.
But after you sorted through them
dumped them onto others
scattered them
or lost and forgot them somewhere
you are still left-

with no appointment,
just questions,
an empty bag
and the
big
white
elephant.

So you wait
hoping it will leave
or that you wont notice it
and it shrinks,
sediments settle
until one day you cast
the first stone into still waters,
turning it brown.

Still no call.

So then you ignore it
and both feel neglected
absence, the painful reminder
angers.
You feed it,
inflate it
Yes! Maybe it will pop
and puff up like a cloud of smoke...
But it just grows so big
that you cannot move.

Still no reply.

So you try to embrace it-
wear it like a hat,
and when confronted with Them-
a mask.
It appears as a struggling smile
a intimate handshake
a skeletal hug
while you converse about anything
except the
big
white
elephant.

After that you begin to realize
that you are not invited
to the ending of this chapter.
It is closing, last call was ten minutes ago...
There is no waiting list,
there is no rescheduling.
There is no prize
no grand finale,
it ends


You are forced to make room for
and hide your
big
white
elephant.