Looking Back

after Patrick Kavanagh.



On College Street in September
I saw him standing there
At a bus stop waiting
Destination – I know not where
I stood, I stared, what should I do?
We were once a pair
Although ours was a brief affair.

In duffle coat and baggy pants
A rucksack on his back
Dishevelled and alone
And I had shared his past.
The lines and rhymes we wrote
I have them still
I asked have I a duty to fulfil?

Crowds walked by unknowing
Autumn leaves rustled past my feet
The railings kept me anchored
Unable to proceed.

A long pause, and then
Love’s altered in those hours and weeks
I’m through with heartache
Walking on,
I turned to look
But he was gone.



Eithne Wright 14/12/’09