Friday, January 7, 2011

Moments of Clarity

I had a poem in my head and it disappeared.
Oh yea,
The one about the professor and his wife.

They lived lives
As we all do
Marriage, babies, and work

She was different though
Frenzied
Too alert
Different, but not sure how

She was a good mother
Good wife
The day her youngest bird
Left her feathered nest
Her sanity moved on too

She was unable to be contained
In the home she shared
With the professor

Desperate flight
Starry night

No home to hold her
He missed her
Worried he sought her
Medication failed her
Strangers raped her
He loved her

Still she could not stay
He left also
Following his bride
From town to town

Carrying two burdens for his trouble
Years melt away
There, see the couple in the café
She distant, he holds her hand

They both smell crazy now
A ripe, old, feral scent
Of onions and unwashed clothes
Of places best forgotten

Twin tanned faces
Framed by wild white manes
His face creased with both their concern
Hers remarkably smooth and blank

He tells his story
Of love.
I hear a tale
Of love lost

Driving home
From my menial job
As the sun set
I see them

Dancing through a park
She is alert and happy
In the golden light
He knew
To wait
For her fleeting moment of clarity.

2 comments:

  1. One of my many chats with the homeless in the Spokane area.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's so sad... but good poetry is sometimes.

    ReplyDelete