Nothing is Permanent

You always said to try
to do my best, to
grow into the person I wanted to be.

You come to me as words, a
revenant, urging me to be good,
and remain in my heart as a guest.

In owl-light, I have learnt to tread
carefully, my feet landing lightly
on the right side of memory. Remember –

nothing is permanent, that
I will always think of you but never see you.

Hiding in dark corners, we are
secret scriveners and know that we are all only
ghosts visiting.

Kim M. Russell, 27th August 2026

Image by Max Anz on Unsplash

Grace is our host for this week’s Open Link Night at the dVerse Poets Pub. She has provided an optional mini prompt that appealed to me.

Grace would like us to either use the title of a poem that is familiar to me by James McCrae, entitled ‘Instructions Before Visiting Earth’, to write our own instructions, or use a line from the poem to create a new poem of our own. I chose part of a line from James McCrae’s poem as the title, and then wrote a golden shovel using these lines:  

“try to be a good guest.
Tread lightly. Remember
that you are only visiting.”

27 thoughts on “Nothing is Permanent”

  12. You come to me as words, arevenant, urging me to be good,and remain in my heart as a guest.

    Great to touch on others’ creations that relationships are maintained. Love your lines Kim!

    Hank

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  15. This is so gorgeous, Kim. It has such a gentle mystical feeling that creep over you. I especially love:

    “In owl-light, I have learnt to tread
    carefully, my feet landing lightly
    on the right side of memory.”

    🤍

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    Reply

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