FORGETTING THE GHOSTS Poem by Nora-Eugenie Gomringer

when I left
I asked them to come with me
I held the door open and lowered my gaze
so that they could move out, become free
in the new home she lived
near the living room window
he in the study near the door
they saw how I slaved away
and their arms lay around my shoulders
without weight or consequence
my thoughts and heart
rose and when I was called away
I shipped everything, packaged and parcelled,
my farewells said, and became less at this place
and I forgot to ask them
to come with me into my old life
which they knew so well
it seems to me as if they still live
in the flat which I left
I tell my friend:
forgot my ghosts
and she knows to say
: they won't be long