A Song at Shannon’s

http://poemhunter.com/poem/a-song-at-shannon-s/

As I grow older I increasingly have the opportunity to reminisce about events of the past when I visit my hometown or run into an old friend. The past exists mostly entirely in our brains (even if it were documented with photos or video). Because of this our imagination takes over and the good memories become epic, the bad memories become tragic, and every detail “remembered” (or imagined) brings back an even more heightened emotion. Generally these encounters leave me with my heart beating fast and a smile on my face. I remember the past, and I know that I wasn’t thinking “This is the best time of my life” and yet looking back everyone always thinks “That was the best time of my life.”

This poem is similar to one of my favorite Mexican films called “Y Tu Mama Tambien” in which two teen-aged best friends go on a cross-country adventure leading to the eventual demise of their friendship. The movie ends with a three minute scene in which they meet in a coffee shop and talk about the past. They both seem happy, but they both realize they are meant to be separate. They part ways never to meet again.

This is my personal experience (that I imagine to be mostly universal) that I have brought to “A Song at Shannon’s”. This story, of course, is heightened by the description of the men as “lonely” and leaving “with his own regret”. These two men have separately arrived at this bar “Shannon’s” a slow night. The men while seemingly happy have come together where the seemingly happy congregate. They realize their counterpart and embrace one another with conversation and laughs and drinks. In a single instant the mood is changed as ones actions or words remind both why they fell away from one another. The conversation slows to an awkward halt. Both of their hearts still race as they shake hands at the door, give a short fake explanation for where they need to go, and walk away with the beautiful stench of the past still lingering.

This poem, while only fourteen lines long, plays out in my head like a short film that has enough back-story to make a feature length motion picture about best friends, growing up and lonely old men.

The line “Slowly away they went, leaving behind more light than was before them” is a whole story in a single sentence. I could read only that line and see a whole movie in my head. What a beautiful piece of writing.