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:
- Atalanta’s Race by William Morris
- Иван Мятлев – Соловей
- Robert Burns: Dainty Davie:
- Гавриил Державин – На храм при Гапсале
- A Girl by Ezra Pound
- Нина Пикулева – Яна-Несмеяна
- Ольга Высотская – Веселый поезд
- Some Say by Mark Miller
- Федор Тютчев – Как ни бесилося злоречье
- We Are To Play The Game Of Death by Rabindranath Tagore
- A Port Of Refuge Agleam With The Aura Of Love by Walter William Safar
- The Sailor by Rabindranath Tagore
- Вероника Тушнова – У каждого есть в жизни хоть одно,
- A Florilegium poem – Alfred Austin
- A Petition poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
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
- A New Year’s Resolution to Leave Dundee by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Humble Heroine by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Descriptive Poem on the Silvery Tay by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Christmas Carol by William Topaz McGonagall
- On The Porch At The Frost Place, Franconia, N. H. by William Matthews
- On the Nativity of Christ by William Dunbar
- On a Soldier Fallen in the Philippines by William Vaughn Moody
- Ode to My Guitar by William Wright Harris
- No Return by William Matthews
- Mingus At The Showplace by William Matthews
- Memory by William Browne
- Lament for the Makers by William Dunbar
- Job Interview by William Matthews
- In Honour of the City of London by William Dunbar
- Homer’s Seeing-Eye Dog by William Matthews
- Gloucester Moods by William Vaughn Moody
- Earliest Spring by William Dean Howells
- Composed Upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth
- Britannia’s Pastorals by William Browne
- Between the Dusk of a Summer Night by William Ernest Henley
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
