lessons in history.

Dreaming of this I was when they spoke to me.
Lovers they bragged of, long since dead and gone.
-David Ferry

they say it repeats itself. has it not been listened to?
it is for this that we keep our eyes open,
our hearts awake, untouched
but we will never learn.
it was a long time ago, the first time it happened,
my heart was awake, untouched,
unbroken. the world was still,
when the ghosts of my past rose up,
and i could finally see that they were touched and broken,
dreaming of this i was when they spoke to me.

spoke to me of the past
noone else said it would happen that way.
it's not their fault they will never listen
to the lessons in history, from before
the world was touched and broken.
but that time is passed, and it is the right now
that i must listen to. or that is what they tell me,
the ones who dared to live. my ghosts.
they tell me of this, and of the
lovers they once bragged of, long since dead and gone.