Robert Etty
Euphemia
With acknowledgements to J.L.Carr and Welbourne's Dictionary
Everyone noticed her staring eyes,
how it seemed she could see the inside of your
skull. When she died they stayed open, staring
out. That is, for as long as flesh lasts
after death, since she had herself laid in
a longcase clock and put in an attic
where, so he could claim his annuity,
her much poorer husband paid courtesy visits
at ten to midnight each New Year's Eve.
Instead of the clock face, Euphemia's
face, bonier every New Year's Eve,
her eye sockets settling at ten-past and
ten-to, greeted his punctuality.
The simple task he had to perform was to
lift her left wrist and feel her pulse beating
away like a ticking clock.
how it seemed she could see the inside of your
skull. When she died they stayed open, staring
out. That is, for as long as flesh lasts
after death, since she had herself laid in
a longcase clock and put in an attic
where, so he could claim his annuity,
her much poorer husband paid courtesy visits
at ten to midnight each New Year's Eve.
Instead of the clock face, Euphemia's
face, bonier every New Year's Eve,
her eye sockets settling at ten-past and
ten-to, greeted his punctuality.
The simple task he had to perform was to
lift her left wrist and feel her pulse beating
away like a ticking clock.
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