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:
- In A Station Of The Metro poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Misgiving by Robert Frost
- “The Girt Woak Tree That’s In the Dell” by William Barnes
- Robert Burns: Willie Chalmers: Mr. Chalmers, a gentleman in Ayrshire, a particular friend of mine, asked me to write a poetic epistle to a young lady, his Dulcinea. I had seen her, but was scarcely acquainted with her, and wrote as follows:-
- Paradise Lost: Book 03 poem – John Milton poems
- Василий Жуковский – К Нине (О Нина, о Нина)
- Clever Stalk by Richard Schiffman
- Джон Донн – Лекция о тени
- Never Bite A Married Woman On The Thigh by Shel Silverstein
- Владимир Набоков – Верба
- Behold this Swarthy Face. by Walt Whitman
- The Talisman poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Николай Языков – Песня (Пусть свободны и легки)
- Lament Two Brothers Slain Each Other039s Hand
- Prayer Artemis
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
- Les Roses de Sâdi poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Johnnie Armstrang poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Jock O The Side poem – Andrew Lang poems
- In Ithica poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A Highly Valuable Chain Of Thoughts poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Gordon Of Brackley poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Edom O’ Gordon poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Double Ballade Of Primitive Man poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Before The Snow poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades V – Of His Choice Of A Sepulchre poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades IV – Of Life poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades III – Of Blue China poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades II – Of The Book-Hunter poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades I – To Theocritus, In Winter poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of True Wisdom poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of The Summer Term poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of The Southern Cross poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of Sleep poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of The Royal Game Of Golf poem – Andrew Lang poems
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
