Wednesday 11 December 2019

Down to Death

Well over sixty and at life’s loose end,
On Facebook and Twitter I sought out those
Who, sunk in the chasm of time’s far wend,
Had been lovers and soul-mates though all ended in snows:
And all must go down to death in their woes,
            Down to death,
            Down to death.

There was T..., insecure though she pulled my heart’s chords,
She was neat and shapely from her hair to her toes,
But a lifetime’s smoking turned her lungs into boards;
When we met her breath creaked like a clatter of crows:
And all must go down to death in their woes,
            Down to death,
            Down to death.

Then there was Y..., the amazon type,
Abrupt and unfeeling like a storm in its throes,
Gone friendless and gaunt but still blunt as a pipe,
None could get near her without heavy blows:
And all must go down to death in their woes,
            Down to death,
            Down to death.

And L... with fraught beauty and an ill-found mind,
Ravaged by decades of highs and lows;
Re-meeting, I was chilled by that face, now lined,
Graved and roughened by a glacier’s floes:
And all must go down to death in their woes,
            Down to death,
            Down to death.

So, T..., Y... and L..., our paths will not meld,
They’re scattered with bones which long ago froze,
For time has gone cold and love’s trees have been felled;
I am old in my tears for each reaps what he sows:
And I must go down to death in my woes,
            Down to death,
            Down to death.

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© May 2015