I watched the froth go down and the yellow liquid rise to meet it. I twisted the glass around and it tipped over and spilled on his arthritic knee. I looked to the side and didn’t apologize. His beautiful bony fingers flicked off the foam in separate particles as if it was incidental lint he had finally noticed.
The decision is yours now.
He rubbed the liquid into his pant leg. I sighed. Either decision I make will kill something.
And so, you want to hang in this ether land forever?
Yes.
And if I pulled your hair?
And if I scalded your mouth?
And if I made a teepee of birch billets with you in the centre?
Look at me.
No.
He went away.
Next night the phone rang.
I’ll meet you at Glacier and First Point. You must be exact.
I’ll be there for three evenings.
For three nights I wore myself ragged but couldn’t find where.
Friday evening the doorbell rang. He handed me two books by Aksel Sandemose. I put my fingers exactly where his warm fingerprints still lingered on the top book and closed the door. I read and waited.
(There was a tidal wave and a woman went from window to window with a candle in her hand as her house floated out the bay. They rescued her in St. Lawrence.)
When you are ready, if ever, light your own candle.
Two years later, my hand shook as I held the match. His hair had greyed around the temples and he crippled shyly.
Five years later, two babies look hauntingly like him. He is chopping wood in the backyard. He stops.
Look at me. I fooled you years ago. Glacier is in Iceland and I tore out all the pages where it was written in that book. Do you regret that we called the babies Abstract and Zero? Come feel Aunt Hilda and Didymus under my fingernails.
His gentle laugh ripped the night sky, and I got pregnant again.
Copyright ©:
Agnes Walsh
A few random poems:
- Ben Nevis: A Dialogue poem – John Keats poems
- The Emigrant by Ndue Ukaj
- Autumn Song by Sarojini Naidu
- O Sing, Fair Lady, When With Me poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Siege Of Vienna Raised By Jihn Sobieski by William Wordsworth
- Repression of War Experience by Siegfried Sassoon
- Cold by Witt Wittmann
- Витамины
- Николай Гумилев – Когда спокойно так и равнодушно мы
- One More Awakening by Pawan Kumar
- On the Threshold poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Чатырдаг
- Огюст Барбье – Аллегри
- Respondez! by Walt Whitman
- Blue Mountains by Satish Verma
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- The Tame Bird Was In A Cage by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Sun Of The First Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Portrait — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Music Of The Rains – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Merchant by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Lost Star — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Last Bargain by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Kiss by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Kiss — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Home by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Hero — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Golden Boat by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXVII: Trust Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXVI: What Comes From Your Willing Hands by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXIX: Speak To Me My Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XI: Come As You Are by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXXIX: I Often Wonder by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LVII: I Plucked Your Flower by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Call Of The Far — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
