Love’s Anguish
a poem
Love’s anguish lay cracked
Upon the lawn as broken glass — Sharp and wanting.
You flicked another cigarette butt
At my feet, not caring
For what crunched beneath.
Rising from your lips came
The last smoke ring
Curling through the air,
Taking your love with it
While you spoke in tongues
Of the ancient man-speak
Designed for womankind.
No music fell on my ears,
But the thud, thudding
Of desperation as you
Wriggled and made haste.
Perhaps the sound of your
Heartbeat set to fade
Made mine beat
Fast as compensation.
Reaching for the washing basket,
I made busy
Pretending shards of splinters
Under foot ceased to be
And the day’s tide
Could sweep away the pain.
Pegs in hand I hung
Out to dry what usually clothed you,
Though it would never come clean.
Empty babble floated
Past in meaningless droves.
Excuses, clever quips
Surrounded beds of dying flowers
No need to plant more
Seeds in poison ground.
There would be no more
Nurturing and tending.
This garden lived
Among the winterberries
So I turned to walk away.
