{with tones of W.H. Auden}

Bring out the horses,

plumes and forelocks

tossing:

pour away the whisky

as the buzzard stands

sentinel at field gate.

Hold back the streamers

& the wedding gown,

for she’s left us

in a hurry

for a dark & distant

country, where there is

only one goodbye.

Bring on the trumpets

& the drums that are

silent, shout across

the sodden marsh;

for the first fingers

of a new day.

We lost her

in the evening

she left us

disbelieving

without a hand

to hold.

Bring out the horses

polish boots & brush out

your heartstrings

for today our friend

has left us, the owl

has forgone hooting

the wind is keening

love songs, the day

Vanessa died.

Hours pass

into days

then years

disappear

beached on the

whale of time.

I see you

as you used

to be:

laughing in

the midnight

streets:

a hand upon

a shoulder

you

turn to me.

We fade

to days

then years

pass

on the beach

of who we

used to be.

Now ‘two’

are only

‘one’

& one

has

disappeared.

Hours swim

into days

& the

years

breathe

‘difficle’.

Somewhere

in my dreams

a midnight

street

we are as

we used to be:

laughing.