And You Were Elsewhere
Between the ticking clock and tinkling music,
Silence ascends
Fragrant within spirals of tobacco smoke;
In another room
A voice speaks, but not to me;
Within my empty universe
I sit and watch
Words, drawn from the hollow world within,
Empty themselves
Black upon white paper.
And you are elsewhere,
Walking swiftly over wet pavements
Out of this enclosed world
Into the other, where voice must answer voices,
Where clouds, wind-harried,
Hurry over yellow leaf-fallen trees,
And tyres of passing cars
Swish over rain-surfaced roadways.
Invocation
Return unscathed,
To break this thicket silence
Between ticking clock and tinkling music;
Return,
Fragrant with affection.
Copyright © Bernard Gilhooly - All Rights Reserved