Alan Morrison
A Mighty Absence
When she was fussing around him, throwing
Chocolate foil missiles at him while he tried to read,
Nudging his knee so his cradled book slipped
To his irritable sigh of Oh, Helen,
His word-anchored gaze longed for solitude.
But when she was working an afternoon shift
His books became milestones of hours,
Grave-heavy weights that heaped on his mind
And his cattle-grid brow; he’d stare into space
And the empty lounge which after a while
Took on all the gloom of his thoughts in her absence;
He’d shuffle about like an abandoned schoolboy,
Biting his nails while the minutes
Traipsed by like a regiment of plodding doubts;
His fresh-polished shoes standing neatly to attention
For inspection by an empty fireplace;
His whole soul missing her, hanging grey
And desolate in his face.
Chocolate foil missiles at him while he tried to read,
Nudging his knee so his cradled book slipped
To his irritable sigh of Oh, Helen,
His word-anchored gaze longed for solitude.
But when she was working an afternoon shift
His books became milestones of hours,
Grave-heavy weights that heaped on his mind
And his cattle-grid brow; he’d stare into space
And the empty lounge which after a while
Took on all the gloom of his thoughts in her absence;
He’d shuffle about like an abandoned schoolboy,
Biting his nails while the minutes
Traipsed by like a regiment of plodding doubts;
His fresh-polished shoes standing neatly to attention
For inspection by an empty fireplace;
His whole soul missing her, hanging grey
And desolate in his face.
Page(s) 18
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