Ten Years

This poem was written in 2016.

After ten years it’s hard not to say

Where did the wild-fire go?

And when did it go

Away?

What the hell happened to

The mad magnetic pull

Between me and you?

The reeling that drew me to

Where you were

So fast it knocked me off my feet?

Where is what we used to feel?

Where is all the feeling?

Where is all the heat?

Where is it?

Something forged the steel

That holds up our kitchen ceiling

Something cooked a thousand meals

Something sparked the car to start

To drive us to visit

My Mum and your Dad

Was that our heat?

I can’t feel it now

Is it all used up then?

Dissipated?

Wasted in rages and burnt art?

And nothing left

to warm us through

the next chilly silence?

No! I am drawn to you

My heart

But first I have to go

To the chemist for our children’s eczema cream

Through nothing so poetic as snow

And so

Ten years older

I’m cold and want something to eat

I reach out to touch the wall

The wall is real

And its bricks were baked

In our heat

Warmer warmer

Ah! Here you are!

All Christmas I can feel

- Amazing -

From our unlit hearth

Us, blazing.