Page 16 - POTB Issue 11

By the Don

how long you gonna nurse this
despite my best advice
knowing full well
what was lost will not return
is further from here
than whoever you’re wishing would chap the door
to pass on news more urgent
or that rarest of things
a song weaved so tight the very ground
begins to shudder
at this point surely you’d pause to consider
then again
if I was in the vicinity somewhere
along the road and up the brae early
making the rounds
shuffling past the greasy papers
the usual chill plus last night’s chips repeating
what you need to do is carry your arms in silence
trust your own wounds
believe certain waiting rooms
given time will allow the leaves to turn and no doubt
the sweeping can commence
surely you’ll recall
at a stretch
3 decades back
when tricks of the light
blinded your eyes
a glancing header
too fast and wide
this cold hearth creeping
steadily forwards
scratching itself
muttering next to one last sinkful
of somebody else’s
dirty weekend dishes
you meet him there
your jack the lad
your spitting eldest best dressed uncle
the man you promised the world
some would say you murdered

Mark Edwards

14 Pushing Out the Boat 11