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:
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня про первые ряды
- Everlasting Wander by Rixa White
- The Actor by Preeth Nambiar
- Perseus by Robert Hayden
- The Dregs Of Love poem – Alfred Austin
- I Went Down into the Desert by Vachel Lindsay
- On A View Of Pasadena From The Hills by Yvor Winters
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Жан Расин – Британик
- Corn Grinders by Sarojini Naidu
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 23.1. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- Elegy poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, товарищи! От сбора продналога… (Главполитпросвет №284)
- Sonnet # 14 by Luis A. Estable
- September, 1819 by William Wordsworth
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
- Apollo And The Graces poem – John Keats poems
- Answer To A Sonnet By J.H.Reynolds poem – John Keats poems
- An Extempore poem – John Keats poems
- Acrostic : Georgiana Augusta Keats poem – John Keats poems
- A Song About Myself poem – John Keats poems
- A Prophecy: To George Keats In America poem – John Keats poems
- A Party Of Lovers poem – John Keats poems
- A Galloway Song poem – John Keats poems
- A Dream, After Reading Dante’s Episode Of Paolo And Francesca poem – John Keats poems
- A Draught Of Sunshine poem – John Keats poems
- Written On The Day That Mr Leigh Hunt Left Prison poem – John Keats poems
- Written On A Summer Evening poem – John Keats poems
- Written On A Blank Space At The End Of Chaucer’s Tale Of The Flowre And The Lefe poem – John Keats poems
- Written Before Re-Reading King Lear poem – John Keats poems
- Why Did I Laugh Tonight? No Voice Will Tell poem – John Keats poems
- Where’s the Poet? poem – John Keats poems
- Where Be Ye Going, You Devon Maid? poem – John Keats poems
- When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be poem – John Keats poems
- To The Nile poem – John Keats poems
- To Solitude poem – John Keats 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