TOWARDS THAT MIDNIGHT

In memory of Guy Fermie  4 12 03

A morning like this of silver shaking winds

This is one Christmas when you never heard carols

While decades of day glow shadowed by a storm

And she had gone early, a wind which never returned.

Along the same mysterious path how quickly you followed her

Down endless labyrinths to a closed door

The incredible journey, the inescapable departure

From a land of marked days to infinite space.

Between history’s landmarks no longer visible

Where your house is bereft beneath swirling December

A robin flits alone, on the frost hardened ground

Emptiness falls and fluid moon sails, entering memory’s terrain.

Only last summer I mourned the loss of your wife

The one who was with you for the last six decades of your life

As your frail body declined, you held me with your pale hand

And apologised in your final hour for your quiescent silence.

The minutes passed so slowly towards that midnight

Evening had drowned, curtains drawn in the hospital’s dim light

Releasing one day’s end that was unlike all others

With a calm smile you said your last good night.