“A girl by a lake I wonder why
Like all spectators I wonder why
I came…
Is this place worth my escaping
Breath?
Or remembrance
Here even a wrist watch suggests
A terror
Where a cigarette provides evidence
Of eternity
Thoughts of love in the old house
Words like large rusty beds
A small bird trapped in a cupboard
Is evidence of a unrepeatable crime
Words become too tired
To manage without sticks
And carriage
In this place I can provide no meal
No wage packet
Perhaps with the aid of love and
An experienced decorator
We can build ourselves a home
Perhaps I can be baked in a pie
Served piping hot
With endless kisses
On the most intimate of Sundays
We won’t tell anyone we are alive
We will avoid the tin tacks and pepper
In our lives.”
.
Malcolm Paul
.