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:
- Олег Бундур – Быстро расту
- Who is the Bogeyman? by Ross D Tyler
- Someday’s Here by Shel Silverstein
- Across Kansas by William Stafford
- After the Battle by Thomas Moore
- Nanna by Ross D Tyler
- Peace of Mind poem – Amit Shankar Saha poems | Poems and Poetry
- Requiem for the Croppies by Seamus Heaney
- Владимир Орлов – Белые стихи о черном пуделе
- The First Part: Sonnet 11 – Lamp of heaven’s crystal hall that brings the hours, by William Drummond
- a maiden’s broken heart by Raj Arumugam
- English Poetry. Charles Lockhart. Epistle to a Friend, with a Copy of Burns’s Letters. Чарльз Локкарт. Послание другу при возвращении ему томиков стихов Бернса
- Homecoming by Robert Lowell
- Flowers of Sion: Sonnet 3 – Look how the flower by William Drummond
- Федор Сваровский – Речь на юбилее
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
- Great-Heart by Rudyard Kipling
- Gethsemane by Rudyard Kipling
- Gentlmen-Rankers by Rudyard Kipling
- Gehazi by Rudyard Kipling
- Fuzzy-Wuzzy by Rudyard Kipling
- Ford o’ Kabul River by Rudyard Kipling
- For To Admire by Rudyard Kipling
- For All We Have And Are by Rudyard Kipling
- Follow Me ‘ome by Rudyard Kipling
- Farewell and adieu… by Rudyard Kipling
- Evarra And His Gods by Rudyard Kipling
- England’s Answer by Rudyard Kipling
- Eddi’s Service by Rudyard Kipling
- Doctors by Rudyard Kipling
- Divided Destinies by Rudyard Kipling
- Delilah by Rudyard Kipling
- Dedication by Rudyard Kipling
- Dane-Geld by Rudyard Kipling
- Cuckoo Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Cruisers by Rudyard Kipling
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
