War Widow
The telephone never rings. Still
you pick it up, smile into the static,
the breath of those you’ve loved; long dead.
The leaf you pick from the fall
rises and dips away with every ridge.
Fingers stiff from time, you trace.
Staring off into a distance limned
by cataracts and other collected debris,
you have forgotten none of the long-ago joy
of an ice-cream truck and its summer song.
Between the paving stones;
between tea, a cup, and the sound
of you pouring;
between the time you woke that morning
and the time when the letter came,
a tired sorrow: like an old flagellant
able only to tease with a weak sting.
Riding the elevator all day,
floor after floor after floor,
each stop some small victory whittled
from the hard stone of death, you smile.
They used to write epics about moments like this.
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Submitted by Nazetel on September 01, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 35 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XXA XXX AXXX XXBBXAB XXXXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 783 |
Words | 145 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 4, 7, 5 |
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"War Widow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/108289/war-widow>.
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