San sans

(A Chinese form, san san meaning three three. Three images each appearing three times. Rhyme scheme abcabdcd.)

***

My bruised feet know the path, they walk

To meet my comfortable friend, we perch

On stones in sun and shade, easing

Our tired feet while we squint and talk

Each to each an ear, a friend, we lurch

From gossip to earnest, on sunwarmed stones

Laughing, listening, friend-teasing

Feet swollen, stones old, comfortable bones.

***

This memory face, a father, a mother

Crowding the mirror, my hands smoothing,

Holding, the mirror knows my face

Knows these hands and no-one other

Father worrying, mother soothing

The mirror knows there’s no disguise

I use her hands to trace

What I see with his eyes

***

What do I see when I close my eyes? 

Long tunnels, red-streaked lightning jags, 

Children leaving home, exploding pinwheels.

Anything I want. All truth, all lies.

I eye the children packing their bags

Down the tunnel’s length. Kaleidoscopes

Inside my eyelids. This is how it feels.

Close one. Close both. Children. Tunnels. Hopes.

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