I need to know that the blackbird
has started to sing again in the bay
that the magpies are still
scolding the cats
from the next-door neighbour’s tree
I need to know that the honeysuckle
is perfuming again
& I hope there are newts & frogs in the pond
I need to know that this spring
you will again drape just-washed clothes
across the red-berried branches of the rowan tree
& that what was once my home
Is still functioning as one &
what I do know
is the rippling diminution of loss &
the collateral damage of abandonment
I need to see the haze of you
behind the bathroom window’s frosted glass
as I sit in the garden again
& hear that blackbird, those magpies
& smell the herbs & flowers &
listen out for a low burp
from the pond
let it still be there
let it all still be there
although I am now gone
.
Niall Griffiths
Picture Nick Victor
.