You know I haven’t seen
You nearby me
Haven’t heard your voice
Say a single thing
Don’t know where
You’ve gone
Or
Where you could have been
For my mind remembers
The sweetest things
But
That’s all they are now
Is
Memories
Just memories
Could it be
I can’t find you
Can’t find you no matter
Where I look
Cause you too
Are nothing more
Than
A memory
A memory
My mind has
Put
Away for safe-keeping
To later embrace
And
Have a look?
~ Patrice
@Patrice Clarkson – 2023
Can we be
like
we used to be
friends laughing
endlessly?
Can’t we?
Can we put aside
our anger
our differences
please.
Please
can’t we?
I know you care
I know
you’re more
than fair.
So what is wrong
with
being what
we used to be?
Can’t we?
Can we be
friends
lovers
gentle souls
giving all
we can.
Please
can’t we?
~ Patrice
@ Patrice Clarkson – 2026
The scope
of
what we’ve done
won’t be
forsaken.
We will take up
the slack
make strides to do
even better.
Cause that’s
who we are
who
we’ve been.
And
those that care
will
support us.
In
our work
our
lives
Everything.
~ Patrice
@ Patrice Clarkson – 2026
No can say
what’s happening
today.
No one
but then
that’s okay
cause
what would we do
if we knew
the unfolding
for
this coming day?
I suspect we’d gasp
run away
trying to hide
from
what’s being described.
But
we should know
it’s never
all bad.
There in
the tearing brambles
is
sweet nectar and flowers
to keep us content
all day.
So yes
no one can say
what’s happening
today.
And
I personally
think
it’s better that way.
~ Patrice
@ Patrice Clarkson – 2026
In March 2001, my running partner, Grace, and I were headed to Los Angeles for the Honda Marathon.
We boarded our plane in Toronto.
We were sitting in the front row, right in front of the flight attendants’ area. Grace had the window seat. I was in the middle. A man of Middle Eastern descent sat in the aisle seat.
Grace loved to talk and would strike up a conversation with just about anyone.
She started talking to the man beside me.
Nothing unusual.
Just everyday things.
“Beautiful day.”
“Hope our flight will be on time.”
He turned toward us and unleashed such hatred in a language I did not understand.
I remember feeling trapped.
I was sitting beside someone whose anger frightened me, although I had no idea why he was so angry.
Grace became quiet.
She looked out the window for the rest of the trip.
Me too.
He said nothing more.
He simply watched what the flight attendants were doing.
Once we were in the air, he began to drink. How many drinks he had, I have no idea. I was not looking his way.
Somewhere halfway, perhaps three-quarters of the way through the flight, he fell asleep.
ON MY SHOULDER!
He was not snoring, but he was breathing heavily.
I was terrified to move.
I sat there, afraid to disturb him.
Shortly before we landed, a scuffle broke out across the aisle between a man and a lady.
The flight attendant intervened.
It woke him.
We arrived in Los Angeles, got off the plane and went on to the marathon, with all the fun, the struggles and the amazing experiences that came with it.
And I forgot about that horrible, frightening man.
Until September 11, 2001.
Years later, as the investigation into the terrorist attacks unfolded, I learned that some of the men involved in the plot had taken cross-country flights in the months before the attacks as part of their preparations.
And I remembered him.
I remembered sitting beside him for five hours.
I remembered the anger.
I remembered him watching the flight attendants.
I remembered him sleeping on my shoulder.
And I wondered.
Who was that man?
Was he simply an angry stranger having a very bad day?
Or was there something more to him?
I will never know.
I have sometimes wondered if the man sitting beside me that day could have been connected in some way to what was being planned.
I cannot say that he was.
I only know what I experienced.
Five hours sitting beside a man who frightened me.
Five hours I had completely forgotten about until the world changed on September 11, 2001.
Today marks 25 years since that terrible day.
I cannot imagine what the people aboard those four flights experienced.
I cannot imagine what their families experienced when they learned they were gone.
And I cannot imagine the fear and heartbreak of all those who were caught in what happened that morning twenty-five years ago.
My heart, my thoughts, my prayers and my love go out to the victims,
their families, the first responders and all those whose lives were forever changed on September 11, 2001.
~ Patrice
© Patrice Clarkson 2026
You left me
feeling
not so good
your sarcasm
I never
understood.
Your sharp, cutting lies
made me
feel
I should not be
alive.
Your smile
was
wicked
it made me cry.
I pretended
I too
I
lied.
To see you go
was
a relief
no more anger
accusations
no more
grief.
May you find
happiness
somewhere else
all
by yourself.
And
please
please stay there
so far away
from
me.
~ Patrice
@ Patrice Clarkson -2026
My heart does
weep
my eyes too
weep
all the world knows
the way.
The way it goes.
Nothing I can do
nothing
I can say
for it is happening
as
was decreed.
Yesterday.
~ Patrice
@ Patrice Clarkson – 2026
You coach me
you tell me what to do.
Am I a good student?
Do I listen?
Or
tell you
what you should do?
You coach me
I hope I listen.
I hope
I know what I should do.
Then
grow
become someone
who can help another.
But
I won’t need to tell you!
~ Patrice
@ Patrice Clarkson – 2026
I know you
you know me
we have been together
through all
that it seems
would destroy us
tear us apart
but
yet
together
together we have been.
~ Patrice
@ Patrice Clarkson – 2026
Feeling
something
something to say
Feeling it
down to my toes
And then
Moving away
to
the back of my mind
Who says
No, you have
nothing
nothing to say.
I’m sure
my heart
says
Yes
My hands tremble
to write
the words
But
My mind
my mind scarfs
at the idea
that
Me
Little old me
has something to say.
~ Patrice
@ Patrice Clarkson – 2026
 | Patrice on I Haven’t Seen You |
 | joannerambling on I Haven’t Seen You |
 | I Haven’t Seen You |… on I Haven’t Seen You |
| Patrice on Life |
| joannerambling on Life |
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Based on work at patriceclarkson.wordpress.com.
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