did I live in that place?
was there a time when we were joined?

in that photo in my mind
you are caught in motion
you, straining towards me,
arms outstretched,
a cypress, leaning,
waiting

did my heart ever throb
to the staircase of your laugh?

in that place we have abandoned
our children never hear
the sound of their laughter
echo up the hall

their feet never tamp
the grass down in that garden
we had planned,
where now the lilies lie,
lush in some places,
stark in others

no-one lives here now,
in this place, overrun
with hospital smells of Dettol
and creaking floorboards

“I’m sorry to have come here,”
I tell my lagging shadow

the broken sky
lets go and finally cries
down on this
long-abandoned place



Bonaventure Saptel