Anna Taylor
Chtonia
Hilda Brook (1915 - 2001)
Mother, is this the lethal site
we gather round
in our distress
Our loss you
Bring us to sodden earth
opening to receive your
dust
The bell is silent
in the mist
The bell too is gone.
We grope towards containment
of our griefs: griefs
that pluck us, ground, scattering
into moving pictures of other times
When you laughed away our tears
strengthened a shaky leg with half a hand
and coaxed us to eat the greens we loathed -
a little spoonful for you, one for me
one for you and just another one for me.
Soap is cheese in bathwater, but NOT to eat.
The woods rise black, drip
along the contour of hillsides opposite
Humming still a distant but insistent song, yours
and the voice to carry us over
Once into sweet drenching dreams
‘Beautiful dreamer’…
as your footsteps measure again
those wooden stairs, not awkward
down memory, down to the hearth
always kept tidy and safe
where we know your eyes burn sure
coals on fire
Page(s) 156-157
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