Bird Fly Away
some of this is true
We walked the windswept wilderness
Stepping upon the swamp tussocks
Avoiding the slow-worm slow-warm
Sandal soaking oily rainbow water
Rain ran down her face, her laughing eyes
Her nose and into her smile
And I knew, just then, I must apologise
For what I had hidden and my lies
She had never asked much
She had not stood with hands on hips
Demanding more love than I could give
I looked at her, I looked
Deep into her dark pool eyes
And began to say, “I’m sorry…”
She shushed me with a finger to her lips
Pointed to a wheeling kite
Winging twisting cavorting hunting
“And that, (she said) is you.”
”I’m sorry for the time I said I love you
While on my way to the bed of another
I’m sorry for the fizzy water
That drenched your face on the beach at Brid
I’m sorry for calling you my second choice
When you were fourth at best
I’m sorry for brow-beating you
For those few pounds I lent for cigarettes
I’m sorry that your marriage died
Through love for me I could not return
I’m sorry for spoiling your happy holiday memory
By saying I wish I spent it with another
I’m sorry for my sour words
When pressing the termination upon you,
That I had to pay for,
Of the baby you longed to mother
And the foreign scent and long black hairs on my pillow
And for the scratches you found on my back from another”
No reproving darkened her features
Her warm-heart smile
Bridged a vastness between us
She pointed to a wheeling kite
Winging twisting cavorting hunting
“That is what you are.”
Stepping upon the swamp tussocks
Avoiding the slow-worm slow-warm
Sandal soaking oily rainbow water
She walked the windswept wilderness away.
I’ll put it in my next book – if you want a copy of my first book I’ll post you one – I’ll need your address – I’ve an email addy – Coolhermit@hotmail.com – you could send it there.
I think the guy thought a few ‘sorries’ would cut the moutard 🙂
I started out in Dylan Thomas mood then as the pome took shape all that altered till the ending 🙂 I like it when the words surprise me.
Thanks for liking it.
Many of them have been put on this site – however they’ve been edited subsequently – I’ll send as soon as I get the address 🙂
I agree with Trevor in all that he said, but I’d like to add, that as a confessional piece, this works beautifully. Your lines, though short, manage to capture a great deal both in sentiment and perspective. I very much enjoyed this poem. It is one that will stick with me.
blessings,
jolen
Thanks, Jolen – an artist pal told me he thinks it needs a more dramatic conclusion – I’ll let that stew a while as I like the low-key devastation the b*st*rd bloke feels as he’s dumped – maybe they went out on the moors in her car 🙂
Incidentally, the only bit from my actual biog is the fizzy water on the beach – I still feel guilt riddled about that some 25 years later 🙂