Michael Newman
Loneliness
Sometimes it is more a plea
For recognition
Than any candlelit confession —
The hapless gloria
Of supplicant rain,
The melancholy of the night:
With a busker gazing
Down the street,
Striving to identify
His lost childhood.
He must set his melody
Outside the asymptotes of loss,
And confess to another’s happiness.
Cars criss and crazycross
Their headlight-macrame;
A taxi drags uncertainty
Towards bypass
And the Parkway.
Sometimes it is more an ache
For laughter than anything else,
The dignity restored
To a bruising romance,
The holiday brochures
Scattered around the flat:
Zagreb, Madeira, France.
For recognition
Than any candlelit confession —
The hapless gloria
Of supplicant rain,
The melancholy of the night:
With a busker gazing
Down the street,
Striving to identify
His lost childhood.
He must set his melody
Outside the asymptotes of loss,
And confess to another’s happiness.
Cars criss and crazycross
Their headlight-macrame;
A taxi drags uncertainty
Towards bypass
And the Parkway.
Sometimes it is more an ache
For laughter than anything else,
The dignity restored
To a bruising romance,
The holiday brochures
Scattered around the flat:
Zagreb, Madeira, France.
Page(s) 20
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