I wrote this when I was inpatient at the West Haven VA a few years ago though I’ve never shared this until today. The young lady who came and did Art with us (she’s awesome) played music while we did whatever art we wanted in the dayroom. She’d rotate around the room and take requests. I kept requesting 3 songs. Pictures of You by The Cure, Sounds of Silence by Disturbed and A Little Bit Off by Five Finger Death Punch. This was inspired by a line from the song Pictures of You by The Cure. It’s from their 1989 album Disintegration and is one of their best-known songs. The first line of this poem is taken directly from the song.

I’ve been looking so long at these pictures of you
that I almost believe that they’re real,
captured fragments of moments held like fragile glass,
scenes that rewind in the dark like fading reels.

Each image is vivid, stubborn and bright,
as if time had paused to cast you in light.
But the colors bleed, slipping between,
moments I held, and those I dreamed.

Each echo I hear is softer than the last,
as the outlines blur in a landscape of past.
Every glance, every laugh—now hollow and thin,
like wisps of smoke that the night pulls in.

I reach out, grasping at air and regret,
tracing the edges of things I forget.
But you’re there, just beyond the veil of sleep,
where shadows keep secrets and memories keep.

How long can I wander these halls of might-have-been,
before the echoes fade to whispers unseen?
I’ve been looking so long at these pictures of you—
at ghosts that won’t leave, yet will never be true.