James Pickles
Parting
He stands by the gate and watches his wife
get into the car and prepare to drive off.
“Worst bloody driver I’ve seen in my life,”
he says with a laugh. The ignition’s cough
returns his gaze to her turning neck
as she clears her blind-spot, once, then again.
He watches her carefully, a routine check,
a routine tenderness; and, finally, when
the car moves off into the evening murk,
shoving his hands in his pockets. he limps
back inside. “Crossed fingers for the paintwork,”
he winks at me. I catch a brief glimpse
of the damp spring heartland beneath his face,
where dark-wet roof slates reflect pale skies,
and the sun has gone, but left not silence:
a song is raining in his eyes.
Page(s) 60
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