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 Набоков – Я на море гляжу из мраморного храма
- Birthday party blunder by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- An Oath poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Cap And Bells by William Butler Yeats
- Юрий Верховский – Судьба с судьбой
- Ready for Retirement by Mike Yuan
- The AntiWorlds poem – Andrei Voznesensky poems
- Sonnet 90: Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 33: Full many a glorious morning have I seen by William Shakespeare
- Владимир Бенедиктов – День и две ночи
- Ольга Берггольц – Песня дочери
- The Silver Moon by Sappho
- Robert Burns: Grace After Meat:
- Владимир Британишский – Кваренги
- Станислав Востоков – Не умею
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
- To a Virtuous Young Lady poem – John Milton poems
- The Passion poem – John Milton poems
- The Hymn poem – John Milton poems
- The Fifth Ode Of Horace. Lib. I poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet to the Nightingale poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 23 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 22 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 21 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 20 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 19 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 18 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 17 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 16 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 15 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 14 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 13 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 12 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 11 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 10 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 09 poem – John Milton 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