Wednesday 31 March 2010

"The children have gone": a lamentation

In the day
pomp holds forth
against my wind pipe.

Shining walls,
Tables set for twenty,
Laughter, loud voices.

Given into the hands
of the gleaming walkers,
assessing each gain.

Exulting madly
In the quiet moments,
Floods and dreams.

I bear no scars on my cheek.
I carry no dead weight.
I speak with friends alone.
I keep up my own strength.

This portrait (which is perhaps barely a poem!) describes the present-day tragedy that I can see in people's lives and is called "the children have gone" after a line in Lamentations 1.

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