C.R. Barnes
Epithalamion
What the man started
the man who married us
the man who died this week
in a white cassock waiting
for the bride to descend into
the parish church
through the medieval door
he'll never know
containing his annoyance
at her lateness
(flowers had to be woven
with bent wire over two hours
into her plaited hair)
the man in the cassock
shut the door
behind the girl
who managed to turn
the heavy metal creaking ring
to go out again
thanks to her own strength
all that swimming
length after length
ah men.
the man who married us
the man who died this week
in a white cassock waiting
for the bride to descend into
the parish church
through the medieval door
he'll never know
containing his annoyance
at her lateness
(flowers had to be woven
with bent wire over two hours
into her plaited hair)
the man in the cassock
shut the door
behind the girl
who managed to turn
the heavy metal creaking ring
to go out again
thanks to her own strength
all that swimming
length after length
ah men.
C R Barnes is a Brit, resident in New Zealand, with poetry published in Smiths Knoll and in many NZ literary journals. A novella, Days (1997) won the Quote/Unquote Hazard Press short fiction competition and three radio plays have been broadcast by Radio NZ.
Page(s) 83
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