Alone

By Karem Barratt

She breathes in my sunsets and tomorrows.
She smears away my peace with her stride,
As she runs, indifferently, over the border of the night.
She is the tolling bell on the tower of my heart;
My sea of bluebells; my lavender fields;
The rider of my nightmares;
The shadow of my fears, stretching under my door.
She laughs at wolves, all too real, waiting
For her to pass with her basket full of certainties,
Brimming with unyielding faith in the power of self,
And post-modern myths of un-breakability.
But break she will.
And the light in her smile will darken.
And the bell tolls in my tower will no longer be
That of weddings and feasts, but a warnig of Vikings
Landing on her shores. And her tears will flood
My soul, as I tie my hands and let her go
To fight off her dragons.

Alone.

In the Shadow of His Absence

She walked without him,
In the shadow of his absence,
Made a cup of tea,
In the shadow of his absence,
Sat in front of the silenced TV,
In the shadow of his absence,
Slept in the stale king-size bed,
In the shadow of his absence,
Bought bonbons for herself,
In the shadow of his absence,
Wiped away the tears,
In the shadow of his absence,
Dimmed the lights of the living-room,
In the shadow of his absence,
So she would not see him there,
In the shadow of his absence,
Staring at her, sternly.
From the hating, bitter corpse,
That used to be his love.