Monday, September 17, 2012

For Absent Friends


                  
    wine glasses
                                                                   remain   
                                                                                     amongst
                                                                         other objects   
                                                                            bereft
                                                                               of
                                                                            hands

                                                                       leave takings
                                                                     fond farewells
           
                                                        more urgent now to return
                                                            to that table
                                                                                those chairs
                                                                         those
                                                                              bottles
                                                                                of
                                                                             myth

                                                                       each return
                                                                   is another life
                                                               our myth is enriched
                                                         that table    those chairs
                                                        these glasses
                                                                     the touching of hands
                                                                           lips
                                                                         yet
                                                                      that place
                                                                does not detain us

                                                                        our eyes
                                                               carry it weightlessly
                                                                      recreate it
                                                                   in another time
                                                                     another place.
                                             copyright Richard Michael Friend Russell, 2014
                                                     an early version first published in
                                                     Lines Review 64, Midlothian,  1978
                                                               Editor: Robert R Calder
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