Dave Manousos – The Release

Initiator Artist: Dave Manousos
Artwork Title: The Release
Size:
Medium: Acrylic
Price: $650

Responder Author: Linda Hartmann
Writing Title: Elegy
Size: 11″x17″
Price: Donate to favorite charity

Clouds of memory flash behind my eyes
Where the memories dance. I start to recognize,
Agonize into the sorrows
Of the past where those images just stick
I’ll accept the pain of sorrow over becoming amnesiac.

A painting got stuck inside my head
Takes me to a place I no longer dread.
This understanding I need to keep
Stays with me until I sleep.

On a canvas was a portrait, a man, ingrained in pain
And a deep sorrow that remained
From the loss and emptiness my heart felt
Where a best friend, now gone, had once dwelt.

His joie de vivre, overcome with strife,
A paradox of emotions spoke volumes of his life
No longer tolerated and so he took his life
Off a cliff, into the ocean. As I approached
The Coast Guard found and dragged him out.
The friend for whom I searched,
Minus a shoe and a ring he emerged.
To identify him through the blood and the bloat
Unable to look away, my heart simply broke.

A visage etched in sorrow with one eye open and one eye closed. A canvas of a life
endured, of a soul weighed down by burdens too heavy to bear.
Haunted by the echoes of our shared past, each glance evokes a flood of memories, a
cascade of moments frozen in time, revealing the hidden depths of our intertwined lives.
Now recalling the laughter we shared, the dreams we dared to chase, and the demons we
battled – a test. Unconditional love at its best.
After years of grieving I finally see
How this tragic act finally set him free
Forever cherished joyous memories live inside my heart
Gifts for life so we’re never apart.

Copyright  2024 by Linda Hartmann