Poems by Ann D. Stevenson

To find room
for her flannel nighties,
a well-worn woollen dressing gown,
her furry slippers
and a few day clothes too.

A much loved book by Agatha Christie,
only one, although
she owned a whole collection,
and a china duck, small, lifelike,
from another collection.

Three photos,
the son who was lost at sea,
her daughter carried away by cancer
and a small picture of her husband
to put beside her single bed.

She brought memories,
muddled up memories,
memories of old songs
she loved to sing,
but sometimes she didn't want to join in.

Sometimes she didn't want to get up,
to be washed, to be dressed,
to mix with others,
sometimes she wanted to go home,
back where she belonged.

A glass of wine nearby, he sat,
his spaniel beside him on the grass,
he flicked away a solitary wasp,
a buzzard circled overhead.

He watched both bird and insect
they were clearly to be seen,
unlike the predator within,
which lurked inside his bones.

Relaxed, he drank the wine,
a reminder of foreign climes,
snow slopes skied in Méribel,
boating trips on French canals.

Happy times, now long gone,
wine imbibed, creatures flown,
his empty glass caught the light
before the sun went down.

Once I glimpsed another world,
gilded streams of light unfurled,
incandescent trails of wonder
blew my present world asunder.

A gold ethereal sphere above,
a transcendental world of love,
beckoned me, called me to stay,
so close, but I was drawn away.

A tug of human hearts and hands
brought me back to known lands,
perpetual memories in my mind,
another world so nearly mine.

I wasn't there to say goodbye,
to reminisce of times gone by.

I wasn't there to make you smile,
to tell old stories, laugh awhile.

I wasn't there to talk of fun,
the happy times in life's long run.

I wasn't there to share the years,
those times of happiness and tears.

I wasn't there to hear your fear
of leaving those you held so dear.

I wasn't there to feel your pain,
you knew we'd never meet again.

I wasn't there to hold your hand
when you parted from this land.

I wasn't there to share our love,
before you joined the stars above.

I wasn't there, I shed a tear.
In my heart you're always there.