Saturday 8 September 2012
Age gnaws at life
Without respite –
Incessantly; insidiously;
Unnerving in its non–rhythmicity:
Irregular pendulums–
Not on clocks–
Dump cold milestones:
Another wrinkle; another grey hair;
Another memory…
I stoked the fire.
A cackling ember broke ranks,
Deluded by escape.
I killed it–
As I do a memory.
It’s the pain you see–
The memory bears the pain:
It hurts my gut, my heart,
My eyes…
I up the volume–
Let the hi-fi sing
A solemn Herbert Howells–
Drowns the memory, see.
I turn to stoke the fire again,
Staying the blankness.
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010
