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:
- “The Girt Woak Tree That’s In the Dell” by William Barnes
- The Dunciad: Book I. poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- A Lament For Adonis by Sappho
- And love has changed to kindliness by Rupert Brooke
- Criss-Cross Acrostic*: Ai My Eye ! by T. Wignesan
- Survivors by Siegfried Sassoon
- Teatro Bambino. Dublin, N. H. poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Unforgotten
- Epigram—The True Loyal Natives by Robert Burns
- The True Beauty of Poetry
- Михаил Кузмин – Выздоравливающей
- Mum and children in the street by Raj Arumugam
- Making The Lion For All It’s Got — A Ballad poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Gigolo by Sylvia Plath
- Ольга Берггольц – К сердцу Родины руку тянет
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
- At The Abbey Theatre by William Butler Yeats
- At Galway Races by William Butler Yeats
- At Algeciras; A Meditaton Upon Death by William Butler Yeats
- Are You Content? by William Butler Yeats
- Another Song Of A Fool by William Butler Yeats
- An Irish Airman Forsees His Death by William Butler Yeats
- An Image From A Past Life by William Butler Yeats
- An Appointment by William Butler Yeats
- An Acre Of Grass by William Butler Yeats
- All Things Can Tempt Me by William Butler Yeats
- Against Unworthy Praise by William Butler Yeats
- After Long Silence by William Butler Yeats
- Adam’s Curse by William Butler Yeats
- A Woman Homer Sung by William Butler Yeats
- A Thought From Propertius by William Butler Yeats
- A Stick Of Incense by William Butler Yeats
- A Statesman’s Holiday by William Butler Yeats
- A Song From ‘The Player Queen’ by William Butler Yeats
- A Song by William Butler Yeats
- A Prayer On Going Into My House by William Butler Yeats
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
