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:
- I am your friend by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Fortune poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- Gulliver by Sylvia Plath
- Валерий Брюсов – К Бальмонту (Погасни, исчезни)
- My Precious Girl by Tiffany Ann Monroe
- Sonnet 44: If the dull substance of my flesh were thought by William Shakespeare
- When the Great Ark by Rudyard Kipling
- Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись 5 к статуе Петра Великого
- Miracle Ice Cream
- Tis Time, I Think, By Wenlock Town poem – A. E. Housman
- The Shadowy Waters: The Harp of Aengus by William Butler Yeats
- Aboard at a Ship’s Helm. by Walt Whitman
- Methought I Saw The Footsteps Of A Throne by William Wordsworth
- Омар Хайям – Ни к другу не взывай, ни к небесам
- Николай Огарев – Осеннее чувство
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
- Robert Burns: The Braes O’ Killiecrankie:
- Robert Burns: The Battle Of Sherramuir:
- Robert Burns: Highland Harry Back Again:
- Robert Burns: I Gaed A Waefu’ Gate Yestreen:
- Robert Burns: Ca’ The Yowes To The Knowes:
- Robert Burns: Willie Brew’d A Peck O’ Maut:
- Robert Burns: Extemporaneous Effusion: On being appointed to an Excise division.
- Robert Burns: Extemporaneous Effusion: On being appointed to an Excise division.
- Robert Burns: Sonnet On Receiving A Favour: Addressed to Robert Graham, Esq. of Fintry.
- Robert Burns: Presentation Stanzas To Correspondents:
- Robert Burns: The Kirk Of Scotland’s Alarm:
- Robert Burns: Epigram On Francis Grose The Antiquary:
- Robert Burns: On The Late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations Thro’ Scotland: Collecting The Antiquities Of That Kingdom
- Robert Burns: My Eppie Adair:
- Robert Burns: Whistle O’er The Lave O’t:
- Robert Burns: The Laddie’s Dear Sel’:
- Robert Burns: Carle, An The King Come:
- Robert Burns: Tam Glen:
- Robert Burns: My Love, She’s But A Lassie Yet:
- Robert Burns: John Anderson, My Jo:
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
